Shouts, loud footsteps, and bangs. That was what the redhaired boy only heard as he hurried down the shadowy hallway. The darkness around every corner made his sixth sense tingle. Thanks to the sudden blackout, he managed to escape from his cage and make a quick escape. This was it!

This might be the only chance in his life! If he failed to escape, security was going to shut and lock the window of freedom!

 

“Where is he?!” an angry voice shouted, causing the boy to jump and freeze in his path. The boy’s cardinal hair whipped in the air as he glanced around his surroundings.

 

“I’ll check this hallway! You guys check the others!” another voice ordered.

 

The boy looked behind him and saw beams of light emitting large glowing circles on the walls. Footsteps echoing down the hallway caused him to tremble in fear.

 

Feeling adrenaline rush through his veins, the boy hurried down the hallway towards an exit, just as when two men shone their flashlights on him.

 

“He’s getting away!” one of the men shouted in alarm.

At that point, everything was a bluff of colors and mixture of sounds. The only things the boy recalled was pulling the door open, the frightening, monstrous voices shouting and yelling at him to come back, and hurriedly running down a lot towards a street, which was fenced off.

 

“Run! Run! Run! Run! Don’t look back or they will catch you!”The boy’s senses screamed as he climbed over the barbed fence. He gasped in pain when a barbed wire dug through his long-sleeved shirt into his arm. “Ignore it! It’s nothing!”

 

Running into the darkness towards nowhere was the only thing the boy remembered at that point. The cool night air felt unusually warm. A small drop of sweat rolled down his pale forehead. He legs shrieked at him to stop however, his willpower refused. If he stopped now, he could never get up and walk again for the time being! Besides, what if one of the men was following him? If he stopped, his efforts to escape will be in vain!

 

After running for hours, the boy’s cramping, exhausted legs finally gave out, causing him to collapse on the ground.

Breathing heavily, he looked around his surroundings. Yet, all he saw were blurs of black and white and distorted figures. His head was spinning like a top. His energy dropped below sea-level as his adrenaline went down the drain.

 

Where he was now was the least of the boy’s worry. Using his last strength, he crawled into the bushes. The leaves crunched under his weight as he shifted into a fetal position.

 

The sound of the leaves in the towering trees rustling through the wind gently lulled him to a pitch-black, soundless sleep.

 

------------------------------------------

 

Back at the research facility, a man dressed in a black uniform threw his flashlight at the ground in frustration.

“Darn it! I can’t believe we let him get away!”

Another man dressed similarly to his partner shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t see why that boy’s so important. All I know is, he always tries to escape the facility.”

“I don’t know if this is true but, rumors around the facility say that this boy will change the future of humanity.”

 

Author’s Notes: After struggling to finish the other fanfics, I’ve FINALLY uploaded the first chapter of this story!

OT: Hello, everyone! This is the Ike and Roy story I was talking about a few months ago. It was originally going to be rated M, however I changed the story a little bit, so I don’t think it’s necessary.

Just a heads up, this is an AU story. So characters who are usually dead in their games are alive and there might be some OOC (?). Also, there will be characters that aren’t in the SSB series (Well, not playable at least). I don’t think it’s a problem, since I’ve seen a few SSB fanfics with characters from other Nintendo games. I’m already finished with some of the chapters, so if I have enough time tomorrow, I might upload the first chapter. I added the short prologue to (try to) make the readers interested. Chapter 1’s when the gears of the story start rolling.

2: Meek Ragdoll

A silver Toyota CH-R drove down the streets of Smashville, its metallic paint reflecting a painful beam of light at whoever was unlucky enough to take a glance at it at the wrong moment. It slowly halted in front of an average-sized two-story home framed in lavish crinkling brick and sun bathing flower pots. The lawn had a few weeds growing among with the fresh green carpet of grass.

A small tree protruded from the middle of the lawn as if it was a key icon to the perimeter. The pale purple paint was bleached by the summer’s boiling sunlight.

The car’s doors vividly clicked open and out stepped a mother with her two children, a son and a daughter.

She had long indigo haired tied in a ponytail and crystal clear teal eyes. She wore a short-sleeved white shirt underneath a light blue blouse, jeans, and black shoes. Held in her hands were her children’s school schedules.

The short and skinny daughter had short orange-brown hair and shared her mother’s teal eyes. She wore a cute yellow shirt with a pink ribbon, a jean skirt, and pink tennis shoes.

The son was tall and a bit muscular. He had cobalt-blue eyes and his mother’s indigo hair. He wore a dark blue jacket over a short-sleeved red T-shirt, jean pants, and red converse sneakers.

“What do you think of your new school?” Elena asked her children as they stepped inside their house, in the process of clicking the light on.

“Even though it’s really big and kinda old, I like it!” Mist answered cheerfully, plopping on the sofa for comfort.

Elena's only son just shrugged his shoulders and blankly gunned down at the hardwood floor. “It’s alright...” he gloomily mumbled.

Ike Greil felt that he was the unluckiest teenager alive in the world. His family was doing well in Crimea; why did they need to move to Smashville? To him, it was a rash action. They literally decided to throw away their perfect life and start another one, here in this boring town Smashville.

Smashville was nothing compared to Crimea. While Crimea had looming skyscrapers and exciting places to visit, Smashville only had small shopping centers and wide, dull countrysides.

When Ike sat down at a table next to Mist, he listened to her carefree humming. He never understood why his sister did not mind moving. Didn’t she miss her friends?

Ike missed his old life back at Crimea. He missed hanging out with his friends Rolf, Boyd, Oscar, Rhys, and Soren at the game arcade and pizza parlor. He would do anything to move back to Crimea, even if it meant listening to his boring history teacher Miss Titania blabber all day long about social triangles and sitting in his math class while the bullies Gatrie and Shinion talked behind his back.

“Here are your class schedules.” Elena gave her children their schedules and smiled gently. “I hope you like them.”

“I’m so glad I got into drama!” Mist exclaimed as she skimmed through her schedule.

Ike lazily went through his schedule. Let’s see... He have English 3, History, Algebra 2, Japanese 3, Art History, Chemistry, PE (He did not take it in his sophomore year.), and public space and design. Ike’s bored eyes dialated in disgust and shock.

“What?!” he exclaimed in untrodden surprise, clutching his schedule tightly. “I wanted Driver’s Ed, not this ’public space and design’!”

“Driver’s Ed must’ve been full.” Elena quickly spoke, trying to calm down her son. “I think public space and design is much better. I heard that it is part of the school’s art academy.”

“Why?!” Ike demanded loudly. “I want to learn how to drive before graduating!”

“We don’t have the money now to stuff another car.” Elena calmly answered. “Public space and design is better because, you get to work on art projects with other people.”

“Yeah, right.” Ike huffed in irritation. “It’s not like I’m going to make a naked stature of some guy and put it in a park for people to see sooner or later.”

Mist giggled softly at her older brother’s statement.

“... Ike!” Elena spoke sternly, disgusted by her son’s remark. “Act like your age!”

Ike mentally shook his head and sighed in frustration. His mom could be so strict sometimes. She had a sense of humor that was as dry as a stone sitting in the middle of the Hatari Desert.

“Mom, can I look around and explore the neighborhood?”

Mist asked, setting down her schedule on the table. After a moldy shudder to the wooden surface, she approached her mom with a bright hearted smile.

“Sure.” Elena sweetly answered, whisking the fragile dishes into the stain free dishwasher. “Ike, can you please escort your sister? I don’t want to witness anything frightning upon her sleeve.”

“Fine.” Ike sighed in annoyance, merely stretching to his teen limits. Standing up from the couch in a lazy fashion, the indigo haired boy screwed up his nose as if he obliterated the outdoors. “It’s not like I have a life anyway. C’mon Mist, let’s go.”

Elena sadly shook her head at her son’s statement as he and Mist swiftly left the house. Ike used to be an open and happy person who always thought positive. Now, he has become a gloomy, quiet antisocial hermit. Moving couldn’t have impacted his behavior that much! She tried desperately to bring back the Ike she always knew and loved, only to have Ike stray from her as if she was a plague. He was a gopher hiding in its lonely burrow.

Ike and Mist strolled around the neighborhood, catching single building convinence stores and bakeries. As Mist eagerly walked ahead of Ike and glanced at every single house down the street, Ike began to wonder what his friends were doing now back in Crimea. Knowing his friends well, he assumed Oscar was trying to break up an argument between Rolf and Boyd. The two brothers tend to quarrel over something ridiculous once in a while, causing the elder to supervise thier bickering attitude. Soren and Rhys were probably in the library, comfortable enough to choose thier path of career. The black haired mage student scrolled through a Pappy Potter book, Soren was deeply interested in magic. The sepia haired cleric verily poured through books about the human body, Rhys wanted to be a doctor.

“Ike, you’re a slowpoke!” Mist naughtily called to him, the leaves re-plotting after a rough breeze. “Hurry up!”

“Erk, sorry!” Ike snapped out of his thoughts caught up with Mist.

“Are you ok?” Mist softly asked, sweetly caressing his stable hand.

“I just miss my friends.” Ike answered with a lonely look, a sunfire pearl Megane rushed past them.

“Hey, they aren’t the only friends in the world!” Mist replied with a beaming smile. “Once when school starts, you’ll meet new friends!”

“Yeah, but they aren’t going to be like my friends back at Crimea...”

Mist gave Ike a worried glance before turning and looking down the street. “Hey, there’s a park there! Let’s check it out!”

Ike forced a small smile, deeply wondering her sudden mood change. “Alright. Let’s go.”

Wolf Point park was a bit expansive compared to the tiny neighborhood park back in Crimea. A brightly colored playground flourished with swirling slides, monkey bars, and swings. A large grassy field surrounded the play area, making up most of the park. It was either used for playing baseball or soccer, some of the faux grass removable to create a dusty glove dugout. There were tables and seats for a picnic dotted near the pavilion. Sitting on top of the right side of the field was a light green tennis court, the stretchable nets wavering along with the gentle breeze.

“It’s really big, isn’t it?” Mist asked Ike as they walked on the sidewalk in the park.

“Yeah.” Ike answered. “The park in Crimea only had a small play set.”

Nearing a set of hedges huddled against the playground, a sudden rustling noise startled Ike and Mist. The two siblings carefully turned around, sensing the hedge shaking erratically. Ike’s protective big brother sense perked up. Oh no... What of peculiar mystery riddled in this hedge? Was it a wild animal or a serial killer? Well, it could not be a serial killer.

Smashville was a peaceful city with little to no crime rates. Still, it could be possible!

“Mist, let’s wait to see what it is.” Ike cautiously said, shielding his sister full force. “I’ll tell you when to run.”

A fifteen-year-old male dressed in a soiled white collared shirt and pants shakily crawled out of the bushes. His cardinal-red hair was tangled and covered with leaves and dirt, like if it was caught in a tornado. His skin had painful scratches and bruises, looking like someone drew on him. He was a living rag doll who was left in the dumpster.

“Er, what happened to you?” Ike inquired softly, staying as still as he could.

The redhead unsteadily stood up and fearfully glared at Ike and Mist with his curious navy-blue eyes. Instead of answering Ike’s question, he timidly shrugged his arms and looked down, his face pink as roses.

“Are you hurt?” Mist asked, gently feeling his hand.

The redhead shook his head no. An explosion of leaves fluttered off his head as his hair whipped around.

“What is your name?” Mist asked again.

The male slightly withdrew and parted his lips, yet he quickly looked away. His entire body tensed up in shyness. Ike and Mist worriedly looked at each other. Trying to communicate with

this guy was like taking to a blank wall.

“Do you know what’s wrong with him?” Mist quietly whispered to Ike, looking the redhead who awkwardly looked back.

“I don’t know.” Ike softly answered back. “He’s really timid.”

All of a sudden, the boy took a small, shaky step towards Ike and Mist. With a shocked gasp, Ike quickly shoved him to the ground, seeing the unexpected movement as an threatning attack.

“Mist, run!” he yelled in distress, tagging Mist’s small hands.

“Wait, stop!” Mist cried out. She glared at Ike in the eye.

“Why did you do that?” The redheaded boy wobbled over before sitting up. Tears overflowed in his midnight blue eyes and began to cry hysterically.

“He might be dangerous!” Ike sternly answered.

Mist gave Ike a light slap on the shoulder. “He isn’t!” She pointed at the sobbing, hurt male. “He’s hurt! Look at him!”

Ike could only shrug and watch his little sister rush to the redhead’s side and give him a soothing hug. “There, there, don’t cry.” she sweetly said. The boy sniffed, wiped the tears

out of his eyes, and trembled a bit. “We need to take him back home.”

Ike blinked a few times, thinking that he misunderstood what Mist had just said. “What did you say?”

“We can’t just leave him out here alone.” Mist spoke again. “We need to take him back home!”

“Whoa, whoa!” Ike exclaimed, his eyes widening in shock. “We can’t take him home! He’s going to cause trouble! I just know it! Also, Mom’s not gonna let us!”

“We can ask Mom.” Mist replied, looking at the redhead with a small wink. “Also, he’s a good person! I can feel it.” Ike’s firm barrier of sureness was crumbled by Mist’s persuasive cannon balls. “Alright.” he sighed. “Let’s go and ask Mom.”

“Yay!” Mist merrily cheered. She looked at the red-haired boy, who blankly looked back. “Come on, follow us!”

The redhead smiled coyly and began to follow Ike and Mist. After taking a few steps however, he took a small stumble. Noticing the red-haired boy’s weakness, Ike mentally pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, gently picked him up, and carried him over his bold shoulder.

“Hey Ike, what should we call him?” Mist asked as they walked back to their house.

“I’m not sure.” Ike replied, rounding on the driveway before approaching the glass pane glowing orange, a definate signal of current residence.

“What do you think of Red? His hair is red so it makes sense!”

“No, I don’t think we should name him after a color.”

“Hmmmm... You’re right. I don’t want to just call him ’boy’! It sounds rude!”

“Wait!” Ike cried out, causing the redhead to jump a bit.

“Red... Boy... Roy! That’s it! Roy should be his name! What do you think?” Ike beamed a bright smile before fell and returned to his bored gaze.

Mist smiled at Ike’s suggestion, the trio quietly kicking off thier shoes. For the first time ever since they moved to Smashville, Ike sounded happy.

“Yes, it does fit him!” She quickly glanced at Roy, who was slowly falling asleep on Ike’s shoulder.

 

Author’s Notes: Yeah, Mist. You better not call Roy “Red”. Besides, another character already has that name!

Just as I promised, here’s chapter 1. This is where the story usually begins. Hopefully, it will make up for the short prologue.

Upon reading the summary, some reviewers said that the story sounds similar to Hollow due to Roy being a mute. I decided to change that and make Roy REALLY shy and scared to talk. Hopefully, that wouldn’t add to the OOCness that it (probably) already in the story.

Also, I opened a poll asking which story should I start next. Keep in mind that one of the stories have characters with undecided roles so, PM me or mention your character choice in a review.

 

Story Question:

Is the OOC really bad in this story so far?

Why do you think Roy is awfully timid?

Is it necessary for Ike to be very grumpy after moving from Crimea?

3: Mysterious

“Can he stay, Mom?” Mist clasped her hands as if to beg for more bedtime. The trio arrived home, planning to commence some nightly activities before they hopped in for some shut eye.

Elena eyed Roy, who stood next to the disinterested Ike.

The redhead curiously looked around the house.

It was spacious yet small in tag terms. The usual living room sported black sofas on cherry wood floor, a lavish carpet sporting ivy roses stretching across the ground. A 30' Telefunken flat screen perched atop of a white glossed stand, a Lexibook sitting erect on level two. For any mother's love dedicated her admiration to flowers, if not a total of 7 picture frames held vintage roses and lilies, all of them nailed in an elegant way against the wallpapered edifence.

Ike just blankly stared at the walls, niching his tight discomfort.

“Well...” she began, stretching her line like a piece of gum. “Is Roy a friendly person?”

“Yeah!” Mist answered as if fisting her victory. “If he wasn’t, then we wouldn’t bring him back!”

“For now, I’ll let him stay.” Elena answered casually, nodding towards the timid redhead in quiet mode, eagerly scoping down the rest of the house. “I’ll pass the news on to your father and see what he thinks.”

“Yes!” Mist exclaimed. She happily faced Roy. “Did you hear that, Roy? You can stay with us for now!”

Roy timidly smiled back and watched the brunette joyfully skip upstairs into her room.

Ike, who felt a bit unneeded in the conversation, was about to follow Mist's route and ravishly sulk when Elena pulled him back.

“Ike, can you do me a favor?”

“Yes?” Ike groaned in annoyance.

“Can you watch over Roy? I don’t want him to get into trouble.”

Ike repulsed in shock. His face was struck by the lightning of disbelief. “Why do I have to?”

“Because I said so.” Elena bluntly answered.

Roy, who was admiring a picture of the Griel portrait nailed against the hallway wall, gasped softly and jumped as Ike suddenly took his hand.

With a soft “Hmmm?”, he looked into his frustrated cobalt eyes as if he was asking what he was doing. Roy’s innocent blue eyes did not make Ike’s annoyed heart soften.

“Please follow me.” Ike quickly whispered to him, trying to sound gentle.

In response, Roy nodded slightly with a small smile, placed his other hand on Ike’s holding hand, and snuggled against his arm. Ike was a bit disgusted at the sign of affection. Roy was a bit too close to him for comfort. He unknowingly crossed the bright red line that tried to scream at him to halt. Ike was tempted to shove Roy away however, that ruthless action will upset the redhead and shatter his fragile heart into pieces. He might even get a scolding from his strict mother!

Ike led Roy to his room. It was a small-sized room that was next to Mist’s room and across from a bathroom. The bed, which had a pillow and our white covers, was right next to a window, all of them branded with his favourite cartoon, Chicken Stew. Its blinds were open, letting the bright sunlight engulf the area with color. A dinosaur nightstand with a lamp and alarm clock sat at the right side of the bed. Near the doorway was a small closet filled with Ike’s clothing and belongings.

A dusty bookshelf filled with books of all sizes and colors stood at a corner. They looked neglected for a long time, as if Ike lost interest in all of the kids books he used to adore those days.

Across from the bed was a white framed desk with an Acer laptop currently playing out episode marathons of Chicken Stew, Zig & Sharko, and Kung Fu: Masters of the Zodiac on mute. A cup full of pencils and pens sat to the left while a charging I- Phone 7 planted deeply next ot the laptop, midly warmed by the whirring fan vents. A fan imported from Aquila was glued to the top of the ceiling, mildly swinging around in accordance to it's clumsy speed.

An extra box flourished with all of his toys. Some that were branded but not very popular. Most of them were a wreck to off branded fun. They ranged from Legos, Transformable SWAT vehicles, pretend equipment to foaming bullet action guns, Hot Speed cars, castle playsets, chicken action figures, Top Set Rapidity spinning tops.

A childhood prize possession expected to surprise Roy out of deep curiousity and endless stifling discoveries.

Waiting for Ike to order him what to do, Roy let go of his hand and curiously paced around the room. He felt the soft, cushiony bed with his hands, jumped onto it, curled into a small ball, and looked at Ike. Ok, they were now in Ike’s room. What was going to happen?

Ike looked at Roy’s tattered white clothing, a blank piece of paper that was splattered with tones of gray and brown, carelessly crumpled into a ball, and thrown into a bag full of dirty. His hair was a ball of red yarn left in the mud. His pale skin indicated that he was hardly let out in the warm sunlight. Ike shivered a bit. What happened to him? Did he run away from his family? Why couldn’t he talk? Maybe his family violently abused him and greatly traumatized him!

How long was he like this?

Ike strided to his closet and opened a box containing clothes he wore when he was thirteen-years-old. He took a pair of white socks, a pair of dark blue jeans, a long-sleeved red shirt with a silhouette of a cartoon sword, and a navy blue jacket.

“I can’t look at him like this any longer.” Ike thought to himself. He bleakly glanced at Roy and ordered, “Follow me to the bathroom.” Ike motioned him to follow him.

Roy immediately jumped off Ike’s bed and obediently followed him to the bathroom. His feet lightly tapped on the floor along with Ike’s slow footsteps. “He is unbelievably obedient.” Ike thought as he opened the door to the bathroom.

The bathroom consisted of two sinks on a large marble cabinet.

One of the sinks had a dark blue cloth, a sky blue cup holding two toothbrushes, and a comb sitting around it. The other one had the same items surrounding it, only that they were pink. A Koenic hair dryer sat in the middle, cable dangling against the curb of the sink.

A large mirror playfully mimicked Ike’s and Roy’s movements. As Ike set the clothes on the cabinet and turned the bathtub’s faucet, Roy curiously looked at the identical red-haired male in the mirror. He stuck out his tongue. The boy did the same. Roy quickly waved his right hand.

Mysteriously, the boy managed to do the same exact movement! Was magic behind this?

“Roy, stop playing with your reflection and come here.”

Ike ordered calmly . Roy looked back at him in response and approached. Ike awkwardly blinked and blushed as he said his next sentence. “Now, t-take off your clothes.”

Ike expected Roy’s face to turn into a bright hue of pink and wildly shake his head no in protest. Instead, Roy simply just stripped off his clothing and looked at him, feeling achieved just to have remained in his underwear. He was a robot whose role was to just take orders.

“Get in here.” Ike pointed to the bathtub. The faucet was running with quick jets of warm water. Roy stepped into the tub and felt the clear liquid with his hands. Ike took a large plastic cup, filled it with warm water, and poured it over the smaller male. Roy immediately hugged himself for warmth as the water streamed down his cardinal hair and fell down his white skin like a waterfall. The clear, clean water turned into a filthy gray as it ran down the drain.

Ike took a bottle of Aveeno shampoo and squeezed its pink, sweetsmelling contents out. He roughly messaged it into Roy’s wet hair. As Ike’s fingers dug into his scalp like a sharp pickax, Roy let out a soft, feeble whimper in protest at the drilling pain. Ike ignored the short cry at first. He always washed his hair like this. It could not be that painful!

After another minute however, Roy could not take the pain gashing into his skull. He suddenly grabbed one of Ike’s huge, soapy hands with his smaller hands and glared into the bluenette’s eyes. Ike froze like a stature and looked back into the redhead’s wide eyes. What did he want now?

Roy put one of his hands on Ike’s head and began to gently pet it, giving Ike a small hint.

“Am I being... Too rough?” Ike asked, his voice hiding the annoyance that swelled in his heart.

Roy’s eyes flickered with joy when Ike figured out what he was trying to say. With a small, sweet smile, Roy’s head bobbed happily as he nodded yes. Ike sighed and began to gently rub, not violently dig, the shampoo into his red hair.

“Is that better?” Ike asked like a sweet mother.

Roy nodded yes and smiled softly. Finished with washing Roy’s hair, Ike poured another bucket full of water over his head, washing out the foamy soap suds. Roy’s hair, which was a disgusting splatter of dull red and brown, was now a lively, bright cardinal.

Bored with nothing to do, Roy’s eyes caught a bar of white Glessform soap sitting erect in the tray. He took it and tightly squeezed it. What does it do? It felt a bit slippery and it smelled like lavender.

All of a sudden, the soap suddenly slipped out of his hands. It flew directly at Ike and struck him on the forehead.

Pain popped in his head for a few seconds as he took the slippery soap and grumbled in annoyance. Roy stepped forward and began to rub Ike’s sore forehead, as he he was trying to soothe the pain.

“I’m ok.” Ike said, stopping Roy with a gentle smile. He was a bit awe-struck by the sudden kindness.

Roy stood still as Ike soaped his body. After being rinsed with water, Ike shut the faucet and wrapped a fuzzy, white blanket around Roy. He carefully Drenched from the nowfreezing

water, Roy began to shiver wildly. His teeth began to uncontrollably chatter as his entire body shook.

“Here, put those on.” Ike handed Roy the clothes. Shakily taking them, Roy began to dress himself. Ike looked away.

When he was finished dressing, Roy gave Ike a small nudge, making him turn around. His eyes flickered in amazement as he saw the new, unfamiliar redhead standing in front of him. Now that he was garbed in colorful clothing, he was nearly unrecognizable. Roy looked like a typical fifteen-year-old male, not an abused child. A small blush appeared on his pale face, making him look lively. Ike was deeply entranced and hypnotized by the innocent gleam in Roy’s eyes. No... This could not be the same boy he and Mist found in the park!

“Ermmm?” Roy quietly whispered. He blinked and gave Ike a small a small poke on the shoulder.

“Ah! Er, sorry.” Ike instantly snapped out of his trance.

Roy smiled again, suddenly stepped forward, and gave Ike a loving embrace. Again, Ike was appalled by the affection.

Yet, it was not as strong as when Roy snuggled against his arm. A part of his heart told him to accept Roy’s fondness.

Still, Ike felt that Roy was violating his space. Roy only outran the security guard when he crossed the red line. He was not out of the woods yet!

Roy released Ike and exited the bathroom. Ike quickly trailed him, keeping a sharp eye on the younger male. What was he doing now? He better not get into trouble...

Ike followed Roy into Mist’s room. There, Mist was on the floor doodling on her sketchbook. She was coloring her sketches with a variety of colorful pencils. Her room was a bit smaller than Ike’s. Her bed, which had a frilly pillow and light blue covers, was placed in the center of the room.

An orange dresser guarded her bed, the typical 14 year old teenager tools for make up, and princess beauty.

Mist sensed Roy’s presence as he entered her room. “Hey, Roy!” she greeted, looking up from her drawing. Her cheeks turned pink as she made eye contact with the nearly unfamiliar male. “I didn't recognize you for a minute!”

Ike joined the scene. As Mist sat up to take a sky-blue pencil, her older brother looked over her shoulder at her drawing. It was a picture of a princess garbed in a lavender dress. Her hair was a swirl of pale-yellow pencil marks. Her eyes were simply just blue circles with a black spot in the middle of it. They made her look a bit cross-eyed. The arms were a bit too short; they only reached to her thin waist. She was simply standing in the middle of a grassland, which was just a scribble of multiple tones of green underneath the princess.

Mist noticed Ike staring at her drawing and immediately covered it with her hands. “Ike! Don’t look! It’s embarrassing!”

“It’s alright.” Ike shrugged his shoulders with a chuckle. “I think the arms need to be longer.”

Roy shook his head in agreement. He eyed the sketchbook in Mist’s hands. Mist noticed the begging shine in the redhead’s eyes and asked, “Roy, do you want to draw too?”

With a hesitant smile, Roy timidly nodded his head. Mist carefully tore a blank page out of her sketchbook and gave it to him. She plucked a flat book out from a stack of literature sitting next to her and set it in front of Roy. “Here you go!” she said kindly.

Instead of taking a pencil and start drawing something imaginative, Roy blankly stared at the blank piece of paper.

Ike noticed the soulless gaze in his eyes. What was it? Did Roy know what was drawing? Maybe he was waiting for an order! He must have lost his freedom to think for himself!

“Roy, are you ok?” Mist asked worriedly.

Roy nodded and smiled, before it fell into a deadpan expression.

“Hey, you can draw whatever you want.” Ike spoke, putting a gentle hand on Roy’s head. Roy slightly jumped from his spot, making Ike flinch. “Really!”

Taking an ordinary writing pencil with his shaking hands, Roy began to carefully draw a figure on the paper, using the book as a base. Ike blinked as a sudden urge to draw came to his senses. It felt a bit odd. It was a warm, fuzzy feeling that he had not felt for a long time.

“Mist, can I have a piece of paper?” Ike requested as he took a pencil lying on the ground.

“Yeah, sure!” Mist perfectly ripped out a piece of paper out of her sketchbook and handed it to Ike. The indigo male placed a flat book underneath his paper and began to sketch a drawing.

Although his large build made him look like an athletic, active person, Ike had a knack for drawing. Despite his skill, he disliked taking art classes. He did not enjoy being told what to draw.

After about an hour that felt like ten minutes, Mist spoke up. “Ike, can I see your drawing?”

“Er, well sure.” Ike gave Mist his drawing. It had a rough sketch of a dragon breathing waves of fire. “I didn’t color it in yet.”

“It looks really nice!” Mist commented with a prasing blush. She eyed Roy, who was lost in his drawing. He was a lamp unplugged from the socket of reality. “Roy? Can I see what you’re drawing?”

With a shy look, Roy felt his face turn red as he gave Mist his drawing. What if she and Ike did not like it? What if it offended him? Would it disgust them?

“Ike, look!” Mist softly gasped. She showed her big brother Roy’s drawing. It depicted the three sitting together, drawing pictures. Although it was cartoonish and less realistic, it was nearly perfect. All of the body parts were in perfect proportion.

“That’s awesome!” Ike quietly spoke. An alluring sense of diffidence caused him to stare intently at Roy, who bashfully looked down. “Roy, who are you?” he wondered. “What happened to you?”

Author’s Notes: Ike, use a repel! That will ward Roy away! Hey, it worked for Red and the Zubats!

OT: Here’s the 2nd chapter! Hopefully, no one got sick of waiting for the updates. So far, this isn’t as popular as the rest of my fanfics. I don’t mind, though. Also, the bathing scene doesn’t seen suggestive, so I don’t think it should be rated M. What do you guys think? The next chapter will hint Roy’s relationship with the men in the institute.

For the poll (including the review votes), the choice with the most votes is the sequel to Hollow, which makes a lot of since. The second most-voted choice is the Singing story with Marth, and the rest only has one vote. So if you hadn’t already, please vote!

 

Story Questions:

Why do you think Ike doesn’t want Roy to spend time with him?

What do you think the men did the Roy in the institute?

4: Warming Up

Anxiety. That was what the three henchmen felt as they gathered in front of the office. They were dressed in black spy soilder uniforms. Their hands shook wildly within their thumping heart.

“H-How should explain to him that the boy escaped the facility?” the first henchman asked uneasily.

“We can’t just say that we were not expecting it.” the second henchman added. “It just sounded like an excuse!”

“I’ll go in and tell him.” the third henchman spoke bravely.

The other two henchman gasped in shock. “You are, Snake? Wait, maybe one of us should come!”

“It’s alright.” Snake mused.

Swallowing his nervousness, Snake unsteadily took the bronze doorknob, turned it, and opened the door. It slightly creaked as it slowly swung open. The two remaining henchmen could only helplessly watch their friend enter the office. After when he stepped into the room, the door gently closed with a snap. The soft yet sudden sound made the two jump.

The office had an uncomfortable atmosphere lurking in the air. Bookshelves containing notebooks with recorded information lined against the walls. The fan on the wall helplessly spun. In the middle of the room was a desk. It had papers nearly stacked. Black pens sat in a holding cup. A tall, somewhat muscular man was seated at the desk. His build and appearance gave people the hint that he was in his mid-thirties. He had a puzzling hair color. It was a hue that was in between the color green and yellow. His narrow, merciless, hazel eyes nearly clashed with his hair and goatee. Any naive child who glanced into his heartless eyes would turn and flee in fright. He was dressed in a dark purple dress shirt, black pants, and leather black shoes, indicating that he was part of a high rank in the facility.

“Is there anything you would like to tell me?” the man asked in a low tone. His voice shared the growl of a monster.

“Yes, Zephiel.” Snake answered, trying to hide the tone of fear in his voice. “I would like to report that Experiment #9 is officially missing.”

Zephiel sighed in frustration and set a hand on his face.

“We made predictions that he must’ve fled to the nearby city Smashville.” Snake continued. “It should not be a big deal. We could just catch him wandering around the city and —”

Zephiel cut the henchman off. “You think, this is not a big deal?” he strictly asked as his voice rose. “Don’t you see? Cities are filled with people.”

“Okay...?” Snake waited for his leader to continue.

“It’s likely that he will meet some people there. He might befriend and get influenced by them. Do we want that to happen?”

“No.” Snake answered. “We want to mold him.”

“That’s why we need to bring him back as soon as possible!” Zephiel suddenly yelled furiously. “We can’t let his pure innocence get tainted with freedom!”

“Y-Yes, sir!” the henchman nervously stuttered in response.

“Look for the boy in Smashville.” Zephiel sternly ordered, his voice lowering. “Do not capture him in public. The rash action will cause suspicions. Only capture him when he is alone.”

“Should we alert the police?” Snake suggested. “We can just report it as a missing child case.”

“You may.” Zephiel answered.

Snake nodded his head. “I understand. We will start the search immediately.” He instantly turned and left the office.

---------------------------------

Mist and Ike were sitting on the couch in the family room, dressed in their pajamas. The lively TV was on, broadcasting chinese and french animated cartoons because Smashville had bizzare marketing on children's media. It flashed out Brainy Bubbly Bug Buddies as Mist gazed into its hypnotizing, magical lights. Patiently waiting for Chicken Stew to be aired, Ike was paying no attention to the TV. His eyes were glued onto his I- Phone 7 as he browsed through Smashbook and looked at his friends’ posts.

Roy was nowhere near them, much to Ike’s relief.

Although the red head showed loving affection to Ike, the bluenette found it to be quite irritating. He followed him around the house like a lost puppy. No, not a lost puppy. A greedy mosquito buzzing behind himself, slowly sucking away his space and privacy. There was not a single moment when Ike had time for himself. Ike looked up from his phone and looked around before looking back at his phone. Where did Roy go anyway? The last time he saw him was when he randomly looked up and spotted the redhead snooping around the front of his room.

“Lucky guys.” Ike thought to himself gloomily as he read one of Soren’s statuses. “They get to start school next month. School starts in two days for me. Also, they don’t have some lost kid living in their house.”

Feeling miserable and wanting to empty his bottle of feelings out, Ike decided to update his status.

“School is starting in a few days in Smashville. Why can’t it start next month like the other schools? This is f**king stupid. ” Ike posted, his fingers ravigingly tapping the button as he wanted to do the same to his mind.

In about five minutes, Ike got a comment from Soren and Boyd.

“wow, i feel sorry for you” Boyd’s comment said.

“Awwww... How’s Smashville anyway?” Soren’s comment asked.

Ike quickly responded to Soren’s question. “It’s the complete opposite of Crimea. There are no buildings, it isn’t crowded, and boring. Oh yeah, part of the town is old as slop and surrounded by countryside.”

“Did you meet anyone yet?” Soren’s reply asked.

“No. Everyone’s so boring...”

Elena then approached Mist and Ike, whose eyes were glued to their glowing multimedia. “Kids, it’s time to go to bed.” she softly ordered.

“C’mon, it’s only ten! Why can’t we go to bed at ten thirty?” Ike thought rebelliously to himself. Yet, he kept his mouth shut.

“Okay!” Mist turned off the TV and she headed upstairs into her room. “Goodnight, Mom! Goodnight, Ike!” she said.

“Goodnight.” Elena called. She looked at Ike, who rose from his seat and turned off his phone. “Ike, can you find Roy and tell him it’s time to go to bed?” she asked. “I can’t find him anywhere.”

“Sure, Mom.” Ike answered, his voice sounding neutral.

“Hold on, I need to charge my phone.” Elena watched Ike hurry upstairs into his room.

Ike’s room was completely dark. The bright yellow, dinosaur-shaped nightlight emitted a beam of light that lit up the corner of the room. Orange and yellow spilled into his room as Ike opened the door and flipped on a switch. The ceiling fan’s lamp, which was a shadowy, upside-down dome with a pattern on it, turned into a glowing ball that filled the room with colors.

A small rustle from his bed caught Ike’s attention, causing him to look. His eyes widened at the sight. There, Roy was lying beneath the covers, his eyes squinting as he sleepily looked at Ike with the sudden beam of light painfully shining in his eyes. He was also garbed in pajamas similar to Ike’s, only that he was wearing red sweatpants. Ike was wearing shorts.

Ike plugged his phone to its charger and gazed sharply into Roy’s drowsy eyes. His glare shared the menacing gleam of a haunted ghoul. Ok, it was completely fine if Roy were to constantly stick around Ike’s side, even if it bothered him. But this was going overboard! His bed was his private domain that can only be entered by a selected few! Roy was not on the list.

With a small sigh, Ike called, “Mom! I found Roy!”

“Okay!” his mother called back. “Tell him that he could sleep on one of the sofas!”

Ike went to his bedside, looked at Roy directly in the eye again to intimidate him, and sternly ordered, “Roy, you are going to sleep on the couch. Please get out.”

Roy only sighed softly, pulled his knees up, and gently hugged the blankets as he looked back at Ike with begging puppy eyes. No, he was definitely not getting out. The bed was extremely cozy and comfortable compared to the sofas.

“Fine, you can sleep with me.” Ike sighed in defeat, sensing that Roy refused to sleep on one of the sofas. He turned off the lights, got onto the other side of the bed, covered himself with the warm, soft blanket, and laid his head on the white, fluffy pillow.

When he closed his eyes and tried to drift to sleep, he felt something, or someone snuggling closely to his body. A blast of warmth embraced his body. Eyes snapped open, he exhaled loudly in annoyance when he saw Roy lying intently next to him. His eyes were shut in sleep. His breathing was soft and peaceful. Ike shifted onto his left side, looked out of the window, and began to listen to the cars zooming distantly down the street like a pair of speeding motorboats, the echoing blare of a distant train, and an occasional ambulance’s alarming siren. The sixteen-year-old teen felt that his space got violated. His personal empire was invaded by an unknown alien who always absorbed his life force.

Yet, should he feel glad for the alien? He was being chased by a twisted army for nothing! Maybe the army wanted to lock him up and research him. But, that did not explain why the alien always stuck to him like duct tape. He could have sticked with his mother or Mist. Maybe it was because Ike was also a male? Did his physical appearance give him the image of a protective brother?

The sound of a car pulling up on the driveway snapped Ike out of his thoughts. The low rumbling noise hummed along with the sound of tires rolling up the gritty ground. He looked out of the window and saw the bright, white light slicing through the window blinds into his room. It immediately died out along with the rumbling noise. The noise of a car’s door slowly opening and violently slamming shut without warning jolted the startled Roy awake. His wide eyes frantically glanced around Ike’s room as he heard footsteps stepping towards the front of the house.

The steps made a terrifying melody with the soft jangle of keys.

Roy huddled closer to Ike as he heard the sound of a key slicing into a keyhole with a screeching crack. Who was coming?! Was it a stranger?! Roy began to sweat wildly and slightly quiver. Ike was the complete opposite. Unlike the panicking Roy, he just rolled his eyes and kept his eyes on the driveway. Great, he finally came home from work...

Unable to hold in his fright, Roy began to wail hysterically as the menacing stranger entered the house. He hugged Ike tightly for protection and buried his blubbering face in his shoulder. What was the stranger going to do now?! Was he going to attack them?!

“Is everything ok?!” a man’s voice worriedly asked.

A middle-aged man cautiously looked into Ike’s room and spotted his son lying in bed with an unfamiliar red-haired boy. The man nearly looked like Ike as the two nearly the had same colored eyes, height, and build. However, they were noticeable differences. The man’s eyes were much narrow, his hair was shorter and brown like Mist’s, and his face had a few wrinkles and slightly baggy eyes due to age and lack of sleep.

“Hey, Dad.” Ike spoke nonchalantly from upstairs, forcing a slight smile.

Gawain turned on the lights, following his son's precence upstairs and asked, “Who is this?”

He pointed at Roy, who slowly stopped crying, calmed down, and watchfully looked back at him. He rested the side of his head on Ike’s shoulder.

“Erm, well...” Ike began uncertainly.

Ike was cut off by Mist exclaiming, “Dad! You’re home!”

Mist gave her father an embrace, who gently smiled at her.

“Oh dear, you’re back.” Elena calmly said as she joined the scene. At the sound of thier adopted stranger, she looked at both Mist and Ike. “Everyone, we need to have an emergency family meeting now.”

Holding back an urge to protest, Ike sleepily shoved the covers off, which tumbled over Roy. Roy shoved the heavy blanket away and made a move to follow him when Elena added, “Roy, you are not involved in this.”

The red haired boy nodded in understanding and watched the four members of the Greil Family walk away towards the family room.

When everyone was seated on the sofas, the family meeting began with a cold question.

“Now, can someone please tell me who was that boy in Ike’s room?” Gawain asked, blinking in expectation at the older male. “Ike, is he a friend of yours?”

“Well, Mist and I ventured to the neighborhood park today.” Ike elaborated nervously, listening to the crickets chirp outside in the backyard. “We found him alone in the bushes.”

“What is his name?”

“We don’t really know. He doesn’t talk to us. We just gave him the nickname Roy.”

“Yeah!” Mist piped up. “We named him after his red hair.”

Gawain nodded. “Were his parents there?”

Ike shook his head in sorrow. “No. In fact, he looked like he ran away from his home. He was very dirty. Mist and I didn’t want to leave him by himself, so we decided to let him stay here.”

“Please let Roy stay!” Mist begged desperately, her eyes shining like a begging puppy’s, “He does not have a place to go to!”

Gawain speculated at Elena and his children. “Based on Roy’s story, I would let him stay— If it is legal.”

“What do you mean?” Mist asked, quiring up a childish remark.

“It is illegal to harbor a runaway.” Gawain explained, his eyes sharp as his personal forged steel Axe currently held at a weapon mueseum.

“Roy’s family must be missing him. It’s best if we return him to his family.”

“I don’t think so!” Ike suddenly blurted out. A sudden

flashback of Roy lying in the bushes helpless and terrified

caused him to retaliate. “Look, when we found Roy, he was

bruised! He was dressed in dirty and torn clothes! He is too

scared to speak! Do you think his family really loved him?!”

Gawain and Elena bolted out of the blue at Ike’s abrupt statement.

“Dear, is there a way to take custody of Roy?” Elena asked, softly placing her hand into his.

“I think there is.” Gawain answered with a humming grunt. “But I don’t want to sign the papers yet. Ike, can I favour you to the police station tomorrow and see if there are missing children cases?”

“Sure, Dad.” Ike answered, blatantly holding in his dad's family order.

When the meeting ended, the Greils returned to their own business. Ike yawned desprately as he throttled sleepily back to his room. Being as quiet as he could so he would not awaken

Roy, he slowly stepped towards his bed and slipped into the covers.

Roy was sleeping like a ball of yarn. As Ike turned his head to look at him, the redhead sighed quietly and stretched his legs. His facial expression told Ike that he was in a state of peace. After wandering around the shady, unknown world, he finally found a place to stay. He met people who accepted him, even though he did not quite fit the mold. (In Ike’s point of view.). Reaching hesitantly, Ike cupped his hand on Roy’s hair and gently stroked his cardinal hair. Before he drifted to sleep, he felt the smaller boy snuggle closer to him.

Author’s Notes: I won’t blame you, Roy. I rather sleep on a bed than a sofa.

Here’s another quick update! Just a heads up, I’m already finished with a few chapters, so I’m uploading them as soon as possible. Admittively when I started writing this fanfic, I had trouble deciding who should be the main antagonist. I eventually settled on Zephiel, the main antagonist of Fire Emblem 6; Roy’s game. Later in the story, you’ll see why I chose him.: 3

Judging by the looks of the poll, it’s likely that I’ll start the sequel to Hollow once when this story is finished. I’m still keeping the poll up though.

Obnoxious Story Questions:

Now that a bit of Roy’s relationship with the men is hinted, how do you think he involved with the institute?

Do you think Ike is beginning to accept Roy?

PS: SSB does NOT belong to me! It belongs to Nintendo!

5: Doubt

Ike awoke as light glittered from the window into his cobalt eyes. With a small yawn, he shifted his body and scrutinzed at Roy, who was still asleep by his side. His head, a bundle of messy cardinal hair, was nested on Ike’s warm chest. He sighed quietly as he licked his lips. His left leg was ungracefully dangling off the bed.

Keeping his eyes on Roy, Ike carefully and slowly pushed the covers off his body. With a tiny thump, the cover piled over the redhead, who only stirred. The bed slightly creaked as Ike cautiously got out of his head, making him jump and freeze like an ice club. The magnet must not make contact with the paperclip, or he would be stuck with him for the time being.

As both of his feet touched the ground, Ike looked back at Roy, who was slumbering like someone who was unfortunate enough to look at hypnotic swinging, soporific pendulum.

His cheeks were a vivid, rosy red and his lips were curved in a small smile. Wow, he was very tired… Ike could not blame Roy. If he ran away from home for gods-knows-how-long, he would gladly settle for a two-day nap. Ike took a quick glance at the clock. It read 9:00.

Ike quickly changed his clothes, as he worried that Roy might unexpectedly awake. While he pulled up his jean pants and put on a red shirt, he heard the small screeching of nails on a chalkboard. The screeching went louder as Ike turned and saw Roy turn and stretch. His sixth sense warned him that he was about to awake. His heart pumping rapidly, Ike’s shaky fingers took a pair of white socks and unevenly pulled them over his feet. The screeching screamed panicky as he quickly snatched his blue jacket off his chair and raced out of his room.

The moment when Ike stepped out of his room, the screeching immediately stopped. He lightly shut the door and sighed in relief. Whew, he thought Roy was actually going to wake up while he was dressing! If he did, that would be an awkward and embarrassing moment!

Ike wuzzled to the kitchen to get a quick bite to eat. It was a fairly large room with a kitchen counter, a Bauknecht stove, a

Neff dishwasher filled with squeaky-clean plates, cupboards filled with kitchen appliances. The sink had a few plates and bowls sitting in it. A large table with six chairs stood in the middle of the room. Behind the table was the enormous sliding door that led to the backyard.

Elena was sitting at the table, reading the newspaper over a cup of coffee. Noticing her son’s presence, she looked up and warmly greeted, “Good morning, Ike.”

“Good morning, Mom.” Ike replied as he strided to the cupboard and took out a VITALIS chocolate chip energy bar.

“Are you going to the police station now?” Elena asked, sipping her warm coffee whole heartedly.

“Yeah.” Ike answered through munches. He poured himself a cup of milk and gulped it down.

“Are you fine with riding your bike there?” Elena suggested. “The news says it’s going to rain today. Maybe when Mist and Roy wake up, we can go together.”

“It’s ok, I’m going to be fine.” Ike replied, setting the cup next to the sink. “A little rain is not going to stop me.”

He instantaneously left the kitchen. Before he opened the front door, he wore on his red sneakers, took his pure white helmet, which was hanging on a hat rack and set it on his head for protection.

Ike exited his house and mounted his dark blue Fire Flash mountain bike, which was parked at the side of the front door.

Strangely, the weather was cool and breezy. The sky, which was clear and blue yesterday, was covered with gray, miserable clouds. The wind blew violently, making Ike shiver a bit.

Once when he entered the main street, Ike was a blur of blue racing down the streets. He was like a flash of blue light. He smiled as he felt the wind blow against his face.

The sound of wind whistling in his ears made him feel like a bird freely flying in the sky with no worries. The cars that zipped behind him where just blurs of colors in all sizes.

Some of the drivers honked angrily at him. Hey kid, slow down!

One of the cars casually driving down the street was a sky blue Mercendez Benz GLS. A bored sixteen-year-old boy with blue hair and matching cerulean eyes sleepily glanced out the window while his older sister drove. As he viewed the tedious scenery like watching paint dry, he saw Ike suddenly zip by on his bike.

The boy childishly squealed in surprise. “Elice! Look!”

He pointed to Ike, who was gone in a blink of an eye. The blue light vanished into the darkness of distance.

“Awwww…. You missed it…” The boy sighed and pouted unhappily.

Elice sighed in bother. She felt a roll of sweat rolling down her long blue hair. “Marth, I’m driving.”

-----------------------

After ten minutes of speeding down the street, Ike finally reached the police station. It looked different compared to the station in Crimea. It was a rectangular-shaped building made of bricks. The Smashville Police Station looked like it was made completely out of marble and its design reminded Ike of an ancient temple. Ike parked his bike in front of the station and looked around. Unlike the police station back at Crimea, it had a friendly, warm feeling, not a threatening atmosphere.

Ike entered the police station. Inside, he saw people seated in chairs, talking to assistances and lawyers. A few policemen were gathered in a corner, talking and laughing over a topic. It was obvious that they were not involved in a case.

A bulletin board with posters of missing people caught Ike’s eyes. Curious like an innocent skitty, he looked at it and identified the missing persons. There were not a lot of posters; there were only three. The first poster had a picture of an enormous, muscular teenager dressed like a football player, which made him raise an eyebrow in confusion. How was it possible for him to go missing? Kidnappers would not mess with a guy that big! If he tried to run away from home like Roy, he would be caught walking down the street! The second poster with a little girl sitting next to Hypno freak, which sent a shiver down Ike’s spine. He was a bit afraid of the psychic gangster.

Ike gazed onto the third poster, which had a picture of a certain, familiar redhead. His eyes widened; it was Roy! The picture of him was like a mugshot. Roy, a person with tones of gray, blankly stared at the camera, his eyes emotionless.

His lips were as straight as a line, not curved in a smile. He was garbed in a white collared shirt. Ike blinked and looked closer. No, this could not be Roy! He was too expressionless to be him!

A police officer with midnight blue hair and trustworthy blue eyes noticed Ike closely staring at the poster of Roy. He was wearing a black dress shirt with matching black dress pants and leather shoes. A golden badge was firmly pinned to his shirt. Whipping up a warn smile, he tenitavely placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, scarring the wits out of Ike.

“It's better to check him out in person than on picture you know.”

Ike snapped out of his trance. “Err, sorry! It’s just that, I felt that I’ve seen him somewhere. I just can’t remember.”

He did not want to reveal the fact that Roy was currently staying at his home.

“I have never seen you in Smashville before. Did you move here?”

A suspicious brow. Ike maintained his composure and casually responded in a naive tone.

“Yeah, I moved here like a week ago.”

Chrom smiled and extended out his hand. “The name is Chrom. Chrom Lowell. What’s yours?”

“Ike Griel. It’s nice to meet you.”

They both shook hands, a sign of first sighted friendship.

“I am a bit suspicious of that missing boy case.” Chrom suddenly spoke, pointing to Roy’s poster. Ike jumped at the unexpected statement. “This morning, a group of men filed the case. When I asked for the boy’s name, it took them a while to give me an answer. It was like as if they were trying to hide something. Doesn’t that sound suspicious?”

Ike nodded. “Yeah!” He looked at the poster again. “He doesn’t look happy... Do you think the men are doing something awful to him?”

Chrom was about to answer when another policeman quickly rushed towards him. He was dressed in a similar attire, however he was much taller than Chrom, had chestnut brown hair, and intimidating dark eyes.

“Chrom! What did I tell you about openly providing information to citizens?” he questioned coldly.

Chrom sighed miserably and sadly looked at Ike. “Unfortunately, I can’t give you all the answers due to orders from Frederick the Wary.” He gave Frederick a small smile to ensure that everything was fine. “I have to go now. I’ll see you later!”

“Alright!” Ike replied. He watched Chrom walk away with Frederick.

 

Ike tempted himself to study Roy’s poster, which suddenly had a threatening atmosphere surrounding it. Something told him that Roy was hiding something tiny yet dangerous behind his back like a terminal virus. His so-called family might not even be a family! Chrom mentioned that a group of men reported the case, not a family. Although most people would just shrug the piece of information off their shoulders, it made the gears in Ike’s brain turn. However, the gears were a bit jammed. There was not enough given information to make them work properly and produce a conclusion!

Raindrops began to plunge from the sky as Ike exited the police station. It landed soundlessly on the sidewalk and the building, giving it dark gray spots. At first, Ike took it as a drizzle. He calmly mounted his bike and rode away from the police station. He kept an alert eye on the speeding cars, knowing that the street could get slippery as soap in the rain.

Slowly, the raindrops grew bigger. It nosily pattered on the streets like hail. Ike gasped for air as he struggled to look through the rain. The air was fresh and clear yet frigid. The violent wind blew against him. The rain poured on Ike’s body like a tumble of bricks. Some of the drivers, who were seated in their warm, comfortable cars, gave strange looks at Ike as he whizzed by them on his bike. Oh my, he was biking in the rain! That ought to be unfortunate!

“Man, I should’ve listened to Mom.” Ike thought to himself, mentally slapping himself for his foolishness.

Ike rode his bike into his neighborhood and sighed in exhaustion. Urk... It was freezing! He trembled violently for warmth as icy-cold water rolled off his helmet and clothes.

How far was his house? Ike looked up and recognized the street. Ok, he was close. All he needed to do is turn the corner and he would finally be back in his house!

After turning the corner, Ike saw a familiar brick house with lavender windowpanes. A few feet away from his home, he got off his bike and began to quickly walk it. When Ike parked his bike at the front of the house, he heard a muffled high-pitched screaming coming from inside his house. Worried that something has happened, Ike hurried inside.

“What’s going on?” the indigo haired boy anxiously asked as he quickly entered his home.

He found Roy crumbled on the floor in the middle of the living room, sobbing hysterically. Tears rolled down his pink face. Mist tightly embraced the bawling redhead, trying to calm him down. Elena could only watch the scene play out.

As soon when Ike arrived, Roy instantly stopped crying.

He wiped his tears with the sleeve of his shirt and hiccupped.

Mist released him from her hug.

“You’re back, Ike!” Elena spoke. “I was worried that something happened to you. It began to rain.”

“Can someone tell me why was Roy crying?” Ike asked, looking at Roy.

“He woke up and tried to look for you.” Mist explained. “When he could not find you, he began to cry.”

“Oh...” Ike watched Roy get up, go towards him, and embrace him tightly. He stroked the redhead’s hair. “I’m sorry for worrying you, Roy.”

Roy blinked away his tears and sighed loudly in relief.

“Were there any missing children cases?” Elena asked.

Ike remembered the conversation he had with Chrom at the police station. Should he tell his Mom and Mist about Roy’s case? It was telling the truth. But, his case sounded suspicious. It did not seem safe to return Roy to his caretakers. Swallowing nervously, Ike answered, “There weren’t.”

“I see...” Elena responded, re-arranging the pillows and throws neatly on the couch. “We now have a reason to take custody of Roy... Ike, can I ask you a favor?”

“Sure, what is it?” Ike asked, perking up attention while staring at the ceiling to pride out his boredom.

“I don’t think Roy feels safe without you by his side.” Elena explained, collecting debris from the fabric. “So, I would like you to take him to school with him.”

Ike cringed at the request. 

“Wait, you’re kidding, right?” he uneasily asked, his face turning pink at the horrifying thought.

 

Author’s Notes: Uhhh... cliffhanger? *gets hit by frozen watermelon*

Here’s the 4th chapter! I managed to introduce some characters. It would be a boring story with just Ike, Roy, and their family! The 5th chapter will be uploaded soon.

It will mainly introduce Ike’s new friends. Hmmm... Who could they be?

Also, the next story I’m starting is definately the sequel to Hollow. So, I’m closing the poll.

 

Obnoxious Story Questions:

If you were Ike, would you tell your family about Roy’s case? (Sorry if this is worded strangely. =/)

Why do you think Roy feels unsafe without Ike by his side?

Why do you think Ike cringed at the mention of bringing Roy to his school?

6: New Faces

Chapter 5: New Faces

 

No, his mother was not kidding. Ike stood at the front of Ninterty High School with Roy and Mist by his side. He watched students, who shared the appearance of strangers, entering the school with their friends by their side, talking and laughing. Although it was a clear, warm day, the cheerful climate did not lighten Ike’s mood up. The school supplies that occupied his backpack felt as heavy as a block of lead.

Signing in boredom, Ike fidgeted with his ID card, which hung around his neck on a lanyard. Oh boy, this was going to be a loooong day...

Since that he was a new student at this school, Ike felt like an outcast. The people that walked pass him like if he was invisible had blank, unrecognizable faces. The only person who was considered to be his friend was Roy. But, it was a bit awkward to spend time with him, as he could not talk and NEEDED to spend every second with him. There was Mist, but she was his sister.

Yet, that did not mean Ike could not make friends...

Ike heard frantic footsteps hurrying towards him from behind. He turned around and saw a sixteen-year-old male rushing towards him. His blue bangs whipped in his matching cerulean eyes, which were filled with fright. He was dressed in a jacket with hues of blue, a sky-blue shirt, long jeans, and dark blue sneakers. Sitting on his head was a gold-colored hairband with a fake azure gem on it. It nearly resembled a tiara.

With a wheezing gasp, the boy ran behind Ike and cowered. He grasped his shoulders tightly and nervously looked over the confused Ike’s shoulder. His hands were trembling wildly. Roy, who was standing by Ike, curiously looked at the unknown boy. What happened? Why was he scared?

“Err, what are you doing?” Ike uneasily asked.

“Are you ok?” Mist asked.

“Hey! There he is!” a jeering voice shouted.

Three students with a threatening atmosphere approached Ike, Roy, and the blue-haired boy. One of them wore a ripped jacket over a wrinkled black shirt, sagging jeans smeared with dirt, a yellow baseball cap worn backwards, and white sneakers that were gray. He had blue eyes that shined with greed. His brown hair looked like it was never combed in a hundred years. Ike assumed that he hardly exercised, since he was completely made up of fat. Mist was disgusted by the sight. Trying not to make eye contact with him, she looked at his ID card. It read: Wario.

The second one was wearing a zipped purple jacket, tightfitting jeans, a matching purple cap, and brown shoes. Unlike the first student, who was completely obese, he was as skinny as a tree branch. He had a long, pointy nose that looked like it could pop an unlucky Drifloon. Ike saw the word Waluigi on his ID card.

The third student was not a human, but a turtle. His shell was decorated with jagged spikes. He had red hair that resembled the color of a tomato. Held in his hands was a paintbrush smeared with plasters of color. A bit frightened yet curious, Roy looked at his ID card, which read Bowser Jr.

So... Those cards had everyone’s names on it...

“Let’s beat ’em up!” Bowser Jr exclaimed, motioning his fists in complete extorcity.

“Wait, why are you doing this?!” Ike asked suspiciously, trying to protect the bluenette boy.

“Oh, he-a just bump into us.” Wario carelessly answered.

“That’s a stupid reason to beat him up!” Mist countered crossly, her teal eyes glaring at the bullies. “Look, he’s scared! Stop bullying him!”

Roy, who wished he could retort something at the three bullies, gazed sternly at them.

“Look, if you won’t leave him alone, we are going to report you.” Ike added coldly.

The three bullies looked at each other and scowled. Nope, they were defiantly not getting suspended on the first day of school! Their parents will be furious!

“Let’s-a go, guys!” Wario whispered. He and his small gang hurried away. Yet, that did not mean that he lost the courage to rudely yell a threatening insult to the poor bluehaired boy. “Don’t think-a you won this-a time!” he ferociously retorted.

With a whimper, the blue-haired boy stepped out of his hiding spot and smiled timidly at his “saviors”.

“T-Thank you.” he softly said. “I was really scared. Are you guys new here? I’ve never seen any of you here in Ninterty.”

“Yeah, we’re new here.” Ike answered, hoisting up his backpack while pocketing his hands into his jacket.

The boy suddenly gave Ike a hug. Ike’s eyes widened in embarrassment as passing students have him strange looks.

His face turned pink. What did this guy think he was doing?!

Mist and Roy looked at each other and shrugged awkwardly. Well, it looked like the turtle suddenly came out of his shell...

“It’s very nice to meet you! My name is Marth!” Marth introduced as he released Ike from his embrace. “What’s yours?”

Ike quickly inhaled some fresh air, as Marth squeezed the life out of him with his monstrous embrace. “I’m Ike. This is my sister Mist and my adopted brother Roy.”

Marth politely shook Mist’s and Roy’s hands. “Nice to  meet you! I can guide you guys around Ninterty if you want

me to.”

“Sure.” Ike shrugged, feeling comfortable with the immidiate tour.

Flattered and feeling a bit embarrassed, Marth led Ike, Mist, and Roy around Nintery like an alpha dog.

The entire school was completely different from Crimea’s. First, Ninterty had a large, outdoor campus. It had a few towering trees that provided shade. Students were walking to their lockers or their classrooms freely. The students spelled freedom to roam around the campus to their destination.

Ninterty High School's mascot, a well groomed but confident husky potently growled or stared deep in perciverance as if to track the them down in a single shot.

Crimea High was just a large building. Ike remembered trying to squeeze through the large squabbling crowds of cliques gathered in the middle of the hallways just to get to his locker.

“So, this is the cafeteria.” Marth pointed to the largest building. Students were exiting the cafeteria with breakfast in their hands. “The A and B wing is where all of the counslers are. If you’re experiencing trouble with anything, you can go there for help.”

“Can you show us where do you go for performing arts?” Mist requested, admiring welcome banners everywhere.

“Sure!” Marth guided the three to a large, fancy (Compared to the other school buildings!) building. It had steps leading to the entrance, several students plotted on each platform. A shadowy ticket booth centered the destination, the window railed off to signafy closure. On the top of the building, where everyone can see it, were letters that stapled: Performing Arts Center.

Ike eyed the students loitering around the building. Unlike the cliques in Crimea High, who just hung around in their little private groups, sneakily gossiped, and had the personality of a blank wall, these cliques were the rainbow of Ninterty’s sky. There was not a single person who was identical to another. A dirty-blond Hylian dressed in a green vest over a white collared shirt, and a floppy green cap was seated on one of the steps. His azure eyes were glued to his notebook, which was filled with narratives. Seated next to him was a light blond-haired teen excitedly scribbling something down in his notebook. He was dressed in a pale yellow shirt under a brown leather jacket. A teenage girl with long dark blue hair sat in front of the two boys. A hairband similar to Marth’s perched on her head. She was listening to her iPod touch, which was hidden in her navy blue jacket’s pocket. A fifteen-year-old boy with a red cap and jacket was reading a book on raising Geomon. An indigo-haired girl dressed in a casual red dress and stockings was talking and laughing with a green-haired boy dressed in knee-high shorts and blue jacket over a lime-green shirt, a Canidae, and an avian.

“This is the PAC.” Marth beamed up a convinent smile at Ike, Mist, and Roy. “It’s where the school has performing arts and band. It’s also where my friends and I hang out.” Marth waved his hands at his friends. “Hi guys!”

Owain, Link, and Lucina immediately stopped what they were doing and hurried to the bluenette. “Hey there, Marth!”

Owain greeted, giving him a high five.

Lucina gave Marth a quick hug. “How was break?”

“It was ok.” Marth answered, intentionally blushing.

Link noticed Ike, Mist, and Roy. “Hello, my name is Link. What’s yours?”

“I’m Ike.” The indigo replied, shaking Link’s hand as if they knew each other already.

“Mist.” Mist smiled sweetly at Link.

Roy could only helplessly look down at the ground and sigh in defenselessness. Geez, life was hard if you don’t talk.

Link awkwardly blinked and looked into Roy’s joyless navy blue eyes.

“What’s your name?” Link asked again, only to not get a response.

“Am I scaring you?” The Hylian began to nervously twiddle his fingers.

“He’s Roy.” Ike quickly spoke, not wanting to make the conversation twice as awkward as it was. “I’m sorry, he doesn’t like to socialize.”

“That’s understandable.” Link smiled at Roy in understanding.

With a timid blush, Roy smiled back. Lilina, who was talking to her friends Wolt, Fox, and Falco, unexpectedly looked over and saw the new three students.

“Hey, we hadn’t seen them before.” she said. “Let’s meet them.”

Roy saw Lilina and her friends heading towards him. His face turning red, he quickly cowered behind Link. Oh my gosh, there were so many people heading towards him...

“Hi, I’m Lilina.” Lilina greeted the coy redhead. “What’s your name?”

Ike noticed Lilina talking to Roy. “Oh, his name is Roy. He doesn’t like to talk.”

“Awww...” Lilina sighed sadly. She felt sorry for the redhead. “What’s your name?”

“Ike. And this is my sister, Mist.”

Mist cheerfully smiled at Lilina. “So, what class do you have for first period?” she asked.

“I have performing arts.” Lilina answered.

“That’s great! So do I!”

Owain overheard the conversation. He attempted the next best thing any teenager could present at school.

“Welcome to the Drama Brigade!” His booming voice echoed throughout the building.

Red looked up from his book in annoyance. “Be quiet! Some of us are trying to study!”

Mist raised an eyebrow. “Drama Brigade? What’s that?”

Wolt began to explain to Mist. “A year ago, Owain decided to call people who are in performing arts the Dawn Brigade. Why? I don’t know.”

After talking to Lucina, Marth turned to Ike. “So, what grade are you in?”

“I’m a junior.” Ike answered.

Marth jumped in surprise. “Hraaah! I thought you were a senior!”

Ike smiled at Marth’s astonishment. “How about you? Are you a sophomore?”

“No, I’m a junior too!” Marth answered. “Looks can be deceiving!”

“Yeah!”

All of a sudden, the school bell boomed loudly across the school. The students obediently stopped from what they were doing and began to head to their class.

Marth eagerly followed Ike and Roy out of the PAC. “So, what class do you have now?”

“I have AP English with Gaebora.” Ike answered, skimming down the schedule as if it was useless junk. “How about you?”

“Me too!” Marth answered with a beaming grin. “I wonder now Mr. Gaebora is.”

“I hope he’s not boring!” Ike exhilerated a sigh as he and Marth entered the classroom.

Marth could only chuckle at what was about to happen next.

Author’s Notes: Ike, you should had said that Roy was simply too shy...

Here’s a short chapter (Well, short compared to the other chapters.) This pretty much introduces most of the characters. In the next two chapters will introduce Ike’s classes and possibly give a tiny hint about Roy’s past. I know, nothing really happened in this chapter. Hopefully, no one is falling asleep while reading my story, haha! XD Also, Ike’s new high school has the crappiest name ever! Again, I opened another obnoxious poll! Apparently, my imagination loves to give me an idea whenever I’m set on some things. So, I’m debating whether I should start on the sequel to Hollow or write a child brawlers story. So, please check out my poll!

Story Questions:

Are there any OOC characters so far?

So far, who’s your favorite character?

7: Déjà Vu

Much to Ike’s dismay, Mr. Gaebora was as boring as watching paint dry. The only thing interesting about him was, he had an appearance of a horned owl. He talked endlessly about the obvious rules of the classroom, which included the infamous “no chewing gum”, “no talking when the teacher is talking”, and “no iPhones in class”. Glancing at Marth, who was seated next to him, Ike sighed in boredom. Roy’s head slowly bobbed as he tried to stay awake.

“This quarter, we will do essays and read several classic books.” Mr. Gaebora blabbered, diffidently scribbling "important" notes on the whiteboard.

“You don’t say.” Ike grumpily thought to himself, siliently drumming fingers across his desk.

Marth noticed Ike’s grumpiness. In effort to make him laugh, the bluenette naughtily whispered, “If I need to make a dictionary, I’ll put a picture of Mr. Gaebora for the definition of ”boring“!”

Ike and Roy chuckled, yet Mr. Gaebora did not notice them with his excellent hearing.

He was too focused on his class lecture. Ike’s smile fell to a bored look. C’mon, he had been talking to the whole class like for, an hour! They need a break from listening to him!

“Now, did you get all of that?” Mr. Gaebora asked, satisfied with his speech. Expections turned into dull silence as most of the class awkwardly stared at their teacher, before tuning half-asleep, unaware voice yawned, “No...”

“No, you didn’t?” Mr. Gaebora answered. “Again, welcome to AP English 3...” he spoke, beginning his speech again.

The entire class softly groaned in agony. Pairs of angry eyes glared at the source of the voice. Ike buried his face into the palms of his hands and sighed loudly. Making sure nobody was looking, Roy snatched one of Marth’s Ticonderoga #2 pencil and slowly stuck it up his nose. Drool slightly dripped from the corners of Marth’s mouth.

After another thirty minutes, Mr. Gaebora finally stated, “Now, I am going to assign an essay that is due next class.”

That was followed by groans and and an “Awww, man!”

Ike’s and Marth’s mouths dropped in shock. What?! They were given an assignment on the first day of school?! Roy only blinked, as he did not quite get what was an essay. “It can be about any topic.”

“Any topic?” Marth asked mischievously.

“Anything.” Mr. Gaebora answered bluntly, returning to his desk to reorder the class's assignment plan.

Marth quietly giggled evilly, giving Ike a hint he was planning something devilish. Ike began to wonder what he should write about. He would like to write about how he and Mist met Roy, but he did not want to give Roy’s backstory away. Maybe it could be about why did his family move to Smashville! Now, he should get started on it once when he gets home, since it takes him two days to comfortably finish an essay.

“This is going to be an easy essay.” Ike heard a feminine voice say. He carefully looked behind him and saw a brunette Hylian talking to a blond female dressed in pink.

“It should be, Zelda!” Peach replied, inhaling sweet exuberance. “You’re really smart!”

For a strange reason, Ike felt uncomfortable at the statement. Maybe it was a tone of jealously? Ike just shrugged the feeling off his shoulders.

At that moment, the bell rang. Everyone immediately got out of their seats and rushed out of the classroom. Yes! They were finally freed from this boring class!

“Hey Ike, what class do you have next?” Marth asked as he, Ike, and Roy walked out of the classroom.

“I have history with Toadsworth.” Ike non chantly answered, making sure not to bump into student traffic.

“Awww...” Marth sighed bashfully. “I have that class for third...”

“It’s alright! We’ll see each other next time!”

Ike and Roy waved goodbye to Marth and the two hurried to Mr. Toadsworth’s class. When they arrived, they saw Link, Lucina, and Owain.

“Hey guys, over here!” Link called to Ike and Roy.

Ike and Roy quickly got into the seats next to Link and Owain.

“So, how’s Mr. Toadsworth?” Ike raised an inquired brow, expecting positive results.

“I don’t know.” Lucina answered, shrugging her shoulders. “From what I heard, he’s a teacher who transferred here. This is his first year here.”

“I hope he isn’t boring like Mr. Gaebora.” Ike remarked, idly pulling out lined notebook paper and a blue Stylex mechanical pencil. “I had him last period.”

Link, Lucina, and Owain groaned in union.

“Good luck with him!” Owain replied. “I heard he gives out a lot of homework!”

“I know!” Ike exclaimed sassily, shaking his head in dismay. “He already assigned us an essay!”

“That’s insane!” Link commented loudly, clutching his fists.

Roy curiously looked around the classroom. He saw maps of unknown continents, famous yet dead celeberties, and cheesy motivational posters. He eyed students sitting in their seats, talking to their neighbors. Out of curiosity, he tried to listen to their conversation, yet for no avail. Voices were mixed and blended in the air, like a smoothie. It was hard to pick out the little ingredients.

At that moment, a short man in his fifties entered the classroom. Mot of the class gazed at the funny mushroomlike hat he was wearing. If one were to see him from a distance, he would mistake him for a walking mushroom.

“Good morning class.” he greeted. “I’m Mr. Toadsworth and I’ll be your history teacher for this year.”

“He dresses pretty strangely, doesn’t he?” Ike heard a voice whisper behind him.

“Yeah!” another voice replied.

Mr. Toadsworth heard the voices. Instead of scolding his students, he said, “Some of you heard that I transferred here. That is true. I transferred from Mushroom Kingdom High.”

Some of the students’ eyes widened.

“No way!” a voice cried out. The Mushroom Kingdom was where all the famous celebrities lived! All of the movies were filmed there!

“Why did you transfer here?” Link asked.

“I got a bit tired of city life and decided to move to a much quieter place.” Mr. Toadsworth answered. “Just because you’re living in a rich city does not mean you enjoy it. Now, this year we will be studying the world’s events. However, it isn’t going to be just about memorizing dead people and wars. We will be discussing about how they are connected to today.”

After when Mr. Toadsworth finished his lecture, the bell rung. Admittedly, Ike had a feeling that he was going to enjoy his history class.

“So, what do you think of Mr. Toadsworth, Roy?” Ike asked the smaller male.

Roy just smiled, shifting his backpack tighter as if it was his personal teddy bear.

“Do you like him?”

Roy happily nodded his head.

“I wish Mr. Gaebora was like him.” Ike growled at the name. “If he was, then I might actually feel motivated to do his work!”

Roy suddenly looked behind him and quickly nudged Ike in the arm.

“What’s wrong?” Ike questioned in bweilderment as he pivoted around. He saw Link hurrying towards him. “Hey, Link!”

“I think we have the same class together!” Link panted as he caught up with Ike. “I saw your schedule on your binder, so I took a quick look at it. If I saw correctly, we both have Mrs. Miriel for Algebra 2!”

“You’re right.” Ike replied, feeling relieved.

As soon as they entered Mrs. Miriel’s class, they saw an assigned seating chart on the whiteboard, much to their agony. It was arranged by last names. Most of the students were seated in their assigned desks, blankly staring at the whiteboard and wall. A few of them were talking to their friends, who luckily had last names alphabetically next to theirs.

“Grr, I hate seating charts...” Ike grumbled to himself.

“E... F... G!” Link quickly said to himself. “Hey Ike, your last name is Greil, right? That means we are seated next to each other!”

“That’s good.” Ike smiled at the fact.

When they sat down in their assigned seats, Link sneaked a peek to his right and witnessed Zelda scribbling some words down in her notebook. His face turning pink, Link felt his heart excitedly pumping blood throughout his warm body. He began to feel a funny, strange feeling in his stomach. Roy raised an eyebrow at Link. What was wrong?

Ike noticed Link’s erratic actions. “Hey Link, what’s going on? Why are you staring at her like that?”

“That’s Zelda!” Link quickly whispered. “I have a crush on her ever since I was a freshman!”

“Why?” Ike raised an eyebrow. How could a nice, nerdy guy like Link fall in love with a superior, popular girl like Zelda?

“She’s smart, beautiful, talented, kind— Well, at first glance, she can be snobby but, she can be nice!”

Zelda overheard Link’s words. “Excuse me, what were you saying?” she asked doubtfully, drilling an offensive expression deep down his heart.

“Nothing!” Link replied with an embarrassed smile that did not seem phony. “We were just saying nice things about you! Haha!”

As soon as when Link said his truthful statement, Zelda instantly resumed writing sentences down in her notebook, just as when Mrs. Miriel entered the classroom.

“Hello class, I am Mrs. Miriel and welcome to Algebra 2.” she introduced, clad in her rectangular framed glasses.

Ike mentally groaned loudly. She sounded as just as boring as Mr. Gaebora! There was a small yawn from the corner of the classroom.

“Now, every day, I will give you a lesson.” Mrs. Miriel continued. “I don’t believe in giving out homework, so I will give you the rest of class to finish your homework after the lecture. During this time, I expect you to finish your work. However, if you decide to goof off instead, I’ll take the opportunity to get your work done away. Water is only allowed here. You may take your phones out once when my lecture is finished.”

Ike heard an obnoxious snore behind him. He turned around and saw a few classmates drifting into sleep. Mrs. Miriel did not seem to care, as she only cared about her morose speech.

“My lecture is over.” she concluded, making some of her sleeping students suddenly open an eye. “You are free to talk to your friends or play with your phones.”

In a blink of an eye, everyone was out of their seats, talking to their friends. Some of the students were still seated at their desks, lazily surfing the Internet on their phones. Ike blinked strangely and shifted in his seat to turn to Link. Well, that escalated quickly...

“Link, do you have Japanese 3 with Lowell?” Ike asked.

“No, I don’t take Japanese.” Link answered. “I take Hylian.”

“That’s cool!” Ike replied. “Is it hard to learn?”

“Some people say it is.” Link turned to gaze at Zelda.

“Personally, I don’t think it is. Then again, Hylian is my second language.”

Once when the bell rung, Ike and Roy hurried to their fourth period class, Japanese 3. Upon arriving at the class, they spotted a few familiar faces, seated at the most exponetional desks.

All of the desks were fashioned after the popular japanese kneeling tables or Chabudai. Everyone rambled at how splendid it was to sit cross legged infront of a low height table while some found it extremely difficult to challenge thier aching muscles, causing a stir of complaints.

“Hey Ike and Roy!” Owain called loudly across the classroom, causing some of his classmates to stare. Lilina and Wolt smiled and waved.

Ike and Roy sat down at desks adjacent to Owain’s, Lilina’s, and Wolt’s seats. “Hey, guys!” Ike greeted. “I didn’t know that you guys took Japanese!”

“Well, Wolt and I were supposed to be in Japanese 2.” Lilina spoke up. “But, we got bumped up a level.”

“That’s pretty nice.” Owain added. “I wonder if they have Japanese 5!”

“Nah, I don’t think so.” Wolt laughed.

Roy heard the door squeak open. He looked up and saw Marth stifle into the room. He seemed as normal as ever, yet there was something different about him. Instead of having a cheery smile on his face, he had a blank, hypnotized look. His cerulean eyes lost their small twinkling shine.

Just as when Marth sat crosslegged in a seat next to Roy’s, Roy leaned over and gave him a playful nudge on the shoulder. In response, Marth looked at his friends and forced a fake smile. “Hello, guys.” he greeted, having a small tone of misery in his voice. “It’s nice seeing you here.” With that, he turned away and miserably looked at his blank desk.

“What’s wrong?” Ike asked worriedly. “Did Wario and his gang bully you again?”

“If they did, I’m not going to be hesitant to teach them a lesson!” Owain added with a scowl.

“Marth, please tell us!” Lilina said sternly. “We can help you!”

“Yeah!” Wolt agreed as he nodded his head along with Roy.

Marth sighed. “I’m just tired. Don’t worry, I’ll be better once when class ends.”

Ike shrugged his shoulders. “If you say so...”

Marth smiled back before he turned to look at Mr. Lowell, who was checking his email on the computer. While his

friends were happily chatting to each other, assuming Marth was ok, Ike took a quick glance at Mr. Lowell’s physical appearance. He was a man in his late thirties and early forties. He had short blue hair, matching cerulean eyes, and a neatly trimmed beard.

Wait, blue hair and matching cerulean eyes? That physical appearance seemed familiar... Ike took a quick look at both Marth and Mr. Lowell. He shared some of Marth’s physical traits! Could it be...?

Hoping that Marth would not notice, Ike peered at his ID card and skimmed his last name. L-O-W-E-L-L. Ike quickly memorized the letters and looked at his schedule. Japanese 3:

Lowell.

Ike’s eyes widened slightly in astonishment. “So, Mr. Lowell is Marth’s dad... Maybe Marth feels pressured to do well in this class.”

After replying to his last email, Mr. Lowell finally got out of his seat and introduced himself.

“Konnichiwa, minna.” he greeted in Japanese. “I am Mr. Lowell and I will be your Japanese 3 teacher for this year. By now, you are expected to know how to say casual phrases, describe a person, place, or thing, and say something that happened in the past, present, and future.”

Mr. Lowell’s voice was low and stern, indicating that he did not tolerate joking around and excuses. Unlike Ike’s last three classes, none of the students showed boredom, laziness, and immaturity. This was it! There was no time to fool around! Everyone was here to learn!

“No wonder Marth looks so sad.” Ike thought to himself, kick starting the blood flow back into his legs after a stressful posture.

When fourth period was over, everyone cheerfully left their classes for lunch. Ike and Roy followed Owain, Marth, Lilina, and Wolt to the PAC. Like if nothing happened, Marth happily skipped ahead of his friends.

“Man, Mr. Lowell is really serious!” Owain remarked as he and his friends dumped their belongings on the steps.

Ike sat down and brought out his lunch, which consisted of a bag of Zweifel potato chips, a bottle of M classic water, a Chiquita banana, and a Nutella sandwich.

“I know!” he replied with a hint of frustraton down his throat.

“Wolt and I are getting lunch from the cafeteria.” Lilina said before she hurried away to a line of students neatly filed infront of the Ala-carte.

“We’ll be back soon!” Wolt added with a wink, chasing after Lilina. “Hey, Lilina! Wait for me!”

Ike heartedly smiled as he watched the two sophomores race away.

He saw Link, Lucina, and Mist heading towards him, laughing at a joke Link said. Behind him, Red was playing a video game on his Gameboy Advance with Fox and Falco watching.

Taking his lunch out of his backpack, Roy plopped down next to Ike and began to nibble on his paprika chips. Ike smiled a bit as he sipped his water. He felt that today went better than expected. At least he did not get dumped in a garbage can like he did back in Crimea High as a freshman.

“Hey, Ike!” Link greeted as he sat next to Ike. He popped some grapes into his mouth.

Lucina smiled at the bluenette before turning to talk to Owain.

“How was your last class?” Ike asked Link.

The hylian merely halted his spooning of chocolate pudding before he swallowed and licked his lips. “It was good. What about you?”

“Well, Mr. Lowell is really stern, so... It was a bit scary for me.”

His ears twitching, Link laughed at Ike’s statement. It was like meeting his astrocity down a deep ghoulish alley. “From what I heard from people who had Mr. Lowell, he’s actually understanding despite his looks!”

Roy, who finished his bag of chips and began to drink his water, intently stared at the expansive parking lot flooded with cars. He carefully speculated at two teachers retreiving art supplies out of a SUV's trunk.

The two were in their early late thirties and dressed in similar attires; their attire included jeans, a T-shirt, and old, worn sneakers.

One of the teachers was largely built compared to his partner, who had short indigo hair slicked back in resimence of a scared hedgehog, dark blue eyes, and wore a midnight blue, short-sleeved shirt. He carried only one box containing construction paper and trays.

The second teacher was lithe and firm; a few inches shorter than his partner, wore a long-sleeved, royal blue shirt, and had cardinal red hair fluffed like a bird and navy blue eyes. He walked with a slight staggering limp as he carried three large boxes containing a variety of art supplies.

“Eliwood, you can’t carry that much.” Roy eavesdropped as the first teacher boldly warn as he shut the car’s liftgate. To the smaller redhead's surprise, the silver Jeep Patriot sported a Pherean crest on the rear windshield. It must have belonged to Eliwood. “Let me help you.”

“It’s ok, Hector!” The second teacher softly replied with a weak smile. “I can do it!”

Just as when Eliwood walked five steps, the Beautifly effect came into play. A rashful blistering pain stung his right leg, causing him to collapse with a high-pitched cry of pain. The boxes tumbled out of his hand, spilling out spray paint cans.

Hector immediately hurried to his friend’s side with worry. “Are you alright?!”

With a small cry; the loudest noise Ike heard him exclaim at that moment, Roy pulled Ike’s arm and hurried towards Eliwood and Hector.

“Whoa, there’s an accident!” Link yelled in notification, quickly disputing himself to help. “Let’s go help them!”

Ike nodded in understandment and the two teens hurried to the scene. There, Roy was gathering as much spray paint as he could hold and neatly placed them back into the boxes. Ike and Link joined in and aided the redhead as Hector carefully helped Eliwood up.

“Thank you very much.” Eliwood sincerely thanked in gratitude. He painstakingly took a small step with his aching right foot, efficently blowing out a wincing exhale.

“No problem!” Link replied cheerfully, watching the two resume thier walk. “We just wanted to help!”

Unintentionally, Eliwood and Roy suddenly looked up directly at each other. Large, innocent navy blue orbs made contact with experienced yet poor, narrow identical orbs. A familiar yet mysterious atmosphere struck the two redheads, causing them to look away from each other in recoil. What was that feeling? It felt familiar... yet far...

“Do you need help carrying these to your classroom?” Ike asked.

“No, we don’t.” The taller teacher answered straightforwardedly, whipping up his killer smile. “Thanks anyway!”

Hector and Eliwood headed away, each carrying two boxes. As they went back to the PAC, Ike mustered up his bizzare thought as if it departed from his brain, “You know, one of the teachers looked a lot like Roy!”

“I know!” Link replied traughtly. “It must be some kind of coincidence!”

If Roy could talk, he would tell them that it was not a coincidence. “What was that feeling?” he asked himself. “It was like, I’ve met that man at one point, but when?”

Author’s Notes? Urm... Cliffhanger? *Gets chased by an angry mob of readers*

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Gotta enjoy these humungous dinners! XD Well, I suppose this is my Thanksgiving gift to my followers.

This and the next chapter will introduce Ike’s teachers, classmates, and possibly hint future chapters. Just a heads up, some of the teachers will be referred by their first name, unless one of their students is talking about them. (My, that didn’t sound smart! Hopefully, some of you got the idea!) Also, I know that most high schools don’t teach Japanese. This is a fictional story, so I can do whatever I want! *laughs evilly*

For the poll, the choice with the most votes is the child brawlers fanfic. I’m still keeping it up, so please vote if you hadn’t!

 

Story Questions:

What is your favorite school subject? Mines is tied between art and history if anyone is wondering.

Why do you think Marth acts miserable in Ike’s Japanese 3 class?

Why do you think Roy has a feeling that he had seen Eliwood before?

(Possible spoiler question, you don’t need to answer this): Why does Roy look almost exactly like Eliwood?

8: Light's Shadow

As Ike listened to his chemistry teacher Mr. Birch elaborate to his class what topics they were going to learn this quarter, Roy gazed at the blank whiteboard. The words coming out of Mr. Birch’s mouth were garbled and blurry to him, as his thoughts were in the depths of the sea of wonder.

Why did that red-haired man seem so familiar? As soon when he accidentally glanced into his navy-blue eyes, Roy felt an eerie feeling striking him in the soul like a lightning bolt. There was no doubt; the man might have a relationship with him! They looked similar! But if he did, wouldn’t he recognize him? That meant that they had never met once in their lives. During lunch, Link mentioned an odd fact; there were some people in the world who closely resembled you. So, they might not be related through blood. Yet, why did he sense that he once knew that man?

After twenty minutes, Mr. Birch finally finished his lecture and let his class free to do whatever they want. Most of the students moved out of their seats to talk to their friends or played an app on their phones. Some of the students, mainly the ones sitting at the front, joked with Mr. Birch.

As he got out of his seat, Ike stretched and looked around the lab-like classroom, trying to recognize some faces. He spotted Red still sitting in his assigned seat, playing a game on his Gameboy Advance. A lonely blonde looked blankly at the wall.

Ike turned to Roy, who was staring blankly into space.

“Roy, what’s wrong?” Ike asked worriedly, carassing his shoulder as if highly concerned.

Roy jumped slightly in tenative shock, smiled bashfully, and nodded without any grunts.

“Nothing? Are you sure?”

The redhead’s cardinal hair bobbed as he nodded happily.

Ike shrugged his shoulders, seeming to refrain from nosing into his friend's invisible moment. “Alright, if you say so.”

Ike’s worry ceased as he and Roy went to their AP Art History class. The classroom was a combination of a library and an art studio. Three metal shelves lined against the walls, containing thick-covered books covered in sawdust. A table with art supplies stationed on its flat surface stood next to the SMART board supported on wheels. Large tables with several seats were in replacement of desks.

As they sat down at a wooden table, Ike glanced around the room in effort to recognize some faces. Sadly, he could not find any of his friends, just like in his chemistry class. The only face he recognized was his teacher Mr. Ostia, or Hector, but he did not seem to notice them. He was seated at his bulky desk, busily organizing some papers before dispersing them swiftly into a file cabinet.

Roy heard the door open, looked up, and saw Link, Marth, and Owain walking in, chatting quietly. With a beaming smile, he nudged Ike and excitedly pointed to them.

“Hey look, it’s Ike and Roy!” Marth whispered to his friends. The three sat at the table where Ike and Roy were sitting.

“Hey guys.” Ike greeted with a smile. He was relieved that he got some company at least to his heart's desire.

“So, I heard that this class is exrutiatingly hard.” Link began, his hands slamming a single printer paper on the table as if plotting class escape. All ears tweaked forward as the hylian chuckled to thier deep fall to his bizzare announcement. Flapping a hand, he merely shook his head, "Just kidding guys, I had to flip you over with a boatload of nonsense."

“All AP classes are hard.” Owain replied as Link calmed down from giggling too hard.

“I heard that Mr. Ostia doesn’t assign a due date for homework.” Marth added, exasperating a soft exhale through his nose. “That’s good. It doesn’t make us stressful.”

Once when the bell rang, Hector strided to the front of the classroom and began to introduce himself to his students. “Good afternoon, class. I am Mr. Ostia and welcome to AP Art History class. In this class, we will be discussing about characteristics of art pieces and how they relate to history and today. Now...”

Blandly listening to Hector’s lecture on Elibe's treasuring landmarks, Ike unintentionally stared at Roy and noticed the emotionless color in his eyes.

His worry began once again. Seriously, what was Roy thinking?

“Roy, what’s wrong?” Ike silently softly nudged the redhead.

Roy blinked in alarm, snapped out of his thoughts, smiled and shook his head.

“You don’t have to keep it a secret from me. Do you need to use the restroom?”

Roy shook his head no.

“Are you tired or sick?”

Repeat.

Ike shrugged his shoulders. “Well, if you say so. Let me know if something’s wrong.”

His attention returning to Hector, Ike halfheartedly listened to his explanations. Hmmm... The teacher that took a stumble during lunch almost looked exactly like Roy. Did Roy know him? Maybe they were related... But, the teacher did not recognize him. Roy must had noticed that and tried to trace a connection.

“Beeeeeep!” The bell rang, just as Hector finished his lecture. The entire class quickly gathered their stuff and headed out the door.

“So, where are you guys heading to?” Link asked, hurridly following Ike and Roy as they walked down the hallway. He waved goodbye to Marth and Owain, who nodded and walked ahead of them.

“PE.” Ike answered, bluffing up his easiness in the class due to his athletic build. “I didn’t take it in my sophomore year so... Yeah.”

After parting with Link, Ike and Roy entered the gym. It had a large basketball court with several bleachers, floors sporting Rexcalius the mascot husky. The air smelled funky and disgusting. Its scent reminded Ike of a seven-week-old tuna casserole his mother accidentally left in the fridge years ago. The students were seated at the bleachers, patiently on thier phones. Their PE teacher stood in front of them, waiting for the bell to ring.

“Let’s see, my teacher is Miss. Trainer...” Ike said to himself, looking around. He saw three teachers; two of them were men, one of them was a woman. It was quite obvious who was Miss. Trainer. She was a black-haired lady with light skin and dark eyes. Her attire included a light blue shirt, black sweatpants, and white tennis shoes.

“Follow me, Roy.” Ike and Roy hurried to the bleachers and sat down. Much to their angst, they did not see any familiar faces.

Miss. Trainer did not say much. She was as talkative as a sleeping Snorlax. The only things she mentioned were rules for PE, which included being dressed in your PE clothes, don’t wear jewelry, and earning points for the day. After her explanation, she passed out forms regarding health care, which needed to be filled out by a parent. Most of the students just quickly browsed through the form and lazily stuffed it into their pockets. In contrast, Ike carefully folded it and put it into his binder. He hated digging through his backpack like a lost Diglett for a pathetic piece of paper.

For the rest of class, the students were allowed to either play basketball or sit at the bleachers. While their classmates talked obnoxiously to their friends and played with their phones,

Ike and Roy watched some people playing a rowdy game of basketball. Their deadpan expression curved into a smile when the witnessed one of the players tripping over his own legs.

“This is boring.” Ike commented in a low tone of boredom. Roy yawned softly and sleepily nodded his head, setting his head beside the older's shoulder while the hard ricoching bounces pattered him to sleep.

The bell finally rang after what seemed to be two hours.

Ike and Roy hurried to their Public Space and Design class loated all the way to the left of campus.

It was exactly next to their AP Art History class.

Ike double took at Link, Marth, Lucina, and Owain waiting outside of the classroom with several other students. His cobalt blue eyes filled with joy. His friends were in this class! This was going to be very interesting... Roy’s smile widened as he felt right at home.

“Hi Ike!” Marth greeted cheerfully, waving his hand hysterically.

“Hey guys!” Ike excalimed happily. “I never knew that you guys were in Public Space and Design!”

“Same here!” Link replied in agreement.

Owain gave Link a high-five. “It’s nice seeing you here!”

Ike took a quick glance at his schedule. “So... Where is Mr. Pherae? Is he in there?”

The small vertical window shaped like a obtrusive bar, allowed Ike to visibly peek in. Sadly the interior of the classroom signaled a soft silence as Griel gave up from perking his neck too long from spying through.

“I think so.” Lucina answered out of the blue, wrapping her Apple Earpods and neatly pocketing it.

“How is he?” Ike asked, feeling inquistitive about his style of teaching to perfectly match Hector's. “Is he boring?”

Ike dreaded boring and insipid teachers.

“I’m not sure.” Link hesitantly replied, inhaling an air bubble. “From what I heard, he’s really nice and understanding. However, he can also be a klutz due to his injured right leg.”

At that moment, Eliwood opened the door to his classroom.

“You may come in now.” he said quietly, limping to the side to allow his students to file inside.

The classroom was large and a bit messy. It had four large tables with several stools, similar to Hector's classroom. Sitting on the shelves were a few sculptures made of paper mâché, all of them varying complicated construction from a black blade with red hilts, a royal flagpole, vintage crest to simplistic designs such as an Elm tree, flower, umbrella, Nintetry's mascot Ninterty, and finally a continent.

Perched at the corner of the class was Eliwood’s desk which messily held a DELL computer, a royal blue thermos filled to the brim with steaming Sideritis ironwort tea, portable heater, plushie Ninterty obidently sitting down while head tilted over and an extra tray flourished with the class syllabus.

An extra table beside his personal one contained paint trays, small microblading knives, and brushes sitting on it, waiting for it to be utilized by various hands.

The air was extremely cool and fresh like the inside of a refrigerator. Just like Hector's preferable method of presentation, Eliwood decided to purchase a SMART board since it made teaching easier vice versa from monitor to board. Plus, it was an easy rest for his slight aching leg too. The wall mounted board faced the students along with a 32' Samsung flat screen broadcasting school news and other informal events. A white BENQ projector suspended from the ceiling to aid the class's presantation slides on the SMART board.

There were three doors other than the entrance; the first one led to a storage room, the second led to another classroom (Probably the AP Art History one.), and the third one led to the back of the classrooms outside.

Roy, who sat down at a table with Ike and the others, quickly recognized Eliwood in bewilderment. He nudged Ike and pointed at him as if the older man looked like an imposter.

“Yes, Roy.” Ike beamed up a warm smile, giving him a pat on the head. “That’s Mr. Pherae, the teacher we helped during lunch. He does look a lot like you.”

A few more students entered the classroom and sat at a table with their friends before the bell rang.

A quick cough from the older redhead caused him to carefully limp towards the front of the classroom where he casually stared at his beloved students with a simplistic exhale.

“Well, good day everyone.” Eliwood began with a soft smile. “I am Mr. Pherae and welcome to Public Space and Design. In this class, we will start on multiple art projects that will be presented in public. Next class, we will get started on flowers for the Homecoming Parade. Did anyone go to last year’s parade?”

A few students raised their hands, unsure of whether they cared for the parade since it was just a cheesy event full of silly floats and dramatic melodies.

“That’s good.” Eliwood continued with a satisfied expression. “Although homecoming is not until a month away, time passes by really quickly. The sooner we get finished with these flowers, the better!”

Taking in small huff of air, Eliwood pointed to the SMART board, which had a list of things needed. A few students stifled up a chuckle despite thier teacher's poor vision, his initial unoticed mistake of placing the marker's tip close to the board caused a plethora of dots automatically striking through the list. “I’m not forcing you, but I would like any small containers and cardboard boxes you don’t need. It will defiantly help the class.” he concluded while overlapping a sloppy handwritten 'BOXES' on the text generated words 'WELCOME TO PUBLIC SPACE AND DESIGN!'. “You may do whatever you want right now.”

After when Eliwood finished speaking, he cleared his throat and slowly limped to his desk, and began to play some tranquil music while browsing through the grading notebook with his glasses on. As his students began to chat with their neighbors, Lucina helpfully announced his mistake.

"Boxes to Public Space and Design?" Owain snorted hysterically, repetetive fist bangs on his desk.

Eliwood's cheeks ran red of embarrasment as he hurridly used his glasses to correct the mistake. "Thank you Owain for the correction. My eyes can act up sometimes just like my leg if I'm not sincerely paying attention. Feel free to call me Mr. Klutz, I whole heartedly do not mind at all!"

Some of them snickered esasively at Mr. Pherae's new nickname while some sneakily took out their phones. Hey, he did not mention not allowing phones in class, however they must be careful! He might notice and prohibit them! The students playing with their phones feel a wave of nervousness tumble over them as Eliwood passed by, organizing some supplies.

Ike and his friends turned to each other as if dispatiching a secret plan.

“Well, I can’t wait to get started on the flowers.” Marth spoke with a smile, tenitavely jubilant of a child he was. No matter how immature the bluehead sounded, he was still accepted into the Drama Brigade without any cost.

“Yeah!” Owain exclaimed, his eccentric sword hand swiping through his phone at lightning speed. “I want to experiment with the design and colors!”

“Hey guys, this might be obvious but, Roy looks nearly exactly like Mr. Pherae!” Lucina calmly pointed out as if the group was unaware of the obvious commotion.

Marth nodded egotastically. “Yeah! I wonder why!”

“I think they are related.” Owain replied to Link’s comment. Roy glanced at Owain in shock and shook his head no, denying the statement in pure distaste.

“Err, Roy?” Owain awkwardly asked, waving an enthusiatic hand infront of his blank expression. The redhead deadpanned as if he was about to pee his pants.

“Roy has never seen Mr. Pherae before.” Ike informed the glossophobic boy. “That means, they can’t be related.”

“Also, there are people in the world who closely resemble you.” Link added, toying around with a pair of scissors until a strip of printer paper fluttered half heartedly into two. “There’s a small percentage that you will actually meet them in person.”

Owain shrugged his shoulders. “Well, if you say so.”

Ike secreted his iPhone out of prying eyes, currently hunched underneath his desk and logged onto his Smashbook account. “Hey, who has a Smashbook account?”

Link’s azure eyes glittered for a split second. “I do! Send me a request!”

“Count me in!” Owain shouted.

“Meee!” Marth piped up.

“I do, but I hardly use it.” Lucina answered cooly. “Just saying.”

Ike quickly sent friend requests to his friends. “I got all of you!”

At that moment, Red unexpectedly came and sat down at their table. “Hey guys, what’s going on?”

Owain’s mouth dropped as if inhaling a floating bubble. “Red!? You’re also in the Art Academy?!”

Red proudly beamed up a smile at the blond’s reaction. “Yeah, I decided to try something different.”

His sensetive gaze cowered onto Ike and Roy. “You guys are Ike and Roy, right?”

“Yes.” Ike answered flattly as if that was the only thing he achived so far. Roy simply smiled and maintained his social anxiety composure.

“It’s nice meeting you.” Red shook both of their hands. “I’m Red. You might’ve seen me around the PAC.”

“I think you’re in my Chemistry class.” Ike articulated his statement as if threatning him into attention. “You probably didn’t see me because I sit in the back.”

“That explains a lot.” Red stifled up a chuckle.

When the bell rung, Ike exited out of his last class with all of his friends. Lucina and Owain quickly walked ahead of them, since they needed to attune their lockers for textbook drop off. A plethora of students passed by without a care, locked in their friends’ conversations.

“So, what are you guys doing after school?” Ike kindly asked, gripping his Art History textbook as if it was a piece of feather. Roy greatly dawned on his friend's idle muscular build. Frowning naively at the sight of his arms resembling a weak popsicle stick, the readhead ditched the imitation, continuing to esaviely listen in.

“I’m going to tend my Geomon farm.” Red answered with a intmidating stretch, boy the incredible stack of books were sure to match with several Longzus in attempt of aid.

Ike's colbalt eyes widened in astonishment. “You own a Geomon farm? That’s cool!”

Roy tilted his head out of puzzling disconnance. Geomon? Oh, those tamable monsters! He saw a few pictures of them in books!

“How about you?” Red asked, efficiently shutting his locker with a click of his lock.

Ike glowered a grumpy frown. “I have to get started on an essay Mr. Gaebora assigned for AP English 3.”

Red sighed and shook his head. “Well, that gotta suck. That’s pretty much why I don’t take AP classes. They give out too much homework.”

“How about you, Marth?” Ike asked the smiling bluenette.

“I’m gonna get started on my essay! I can’t wait!” Marth grinned devilishly. “I had a great topic to write about!”

Link recognized the naughty tone in Marth’s childish voice.

“What is it?” he asked curiously.

Marth giggled impishly. “I’m not telling. I’m going to show it to you tomorrow!”

Link blinked out perplexion and ravishly stared at Ike as if he was offering a deal. “Well, I’m not assigned any work, so I guess I have lots of spare time. I’ll probably walk around Smashville with my little brother Toon. He’s in sixth grade if you’re wondering.”

“Well, you’re pretty lucky!” Ike replied, steeping over the school's enterance ledge for a pick up watchout.

Only the hylian refrained from parent pickup watching and eagerly high fived his friends.

“See you guys tomorrow!” Link hollered out, walking down the sidewalk after his session of fives were completed.

Marth waved off his farewell as he neatly clamboured into a sleek but agey sky blue stationwagon screeching off.

Red gave Ike and Roy a rocketing high-five.

“Talk to you later.” he winked as he scampered to the side of the loop and hopped on the yellow bus.

Ike and Roy nodded, watching student after student crowd into the bus.

“Goodbye!” Ike heard Mist exclaim as she waved goodbye to Lilina and Wolt.

She hurried to her older brother’s side, joining them atop of the concrete school sign which simply turned out to be a huge marble edifence. “Hi Ike and Roy! How was today?”

Ike proudly smiled, hinting a refraining fact that it was quite dreadful. “It was pretty good, other than the fact I got an assignment from one of my AP classes.”

“Awww...” Mist sweetly cooed, scoping around the lot in search of a silver CH-R. “Do you spot Mom yet?”

Ike glanced at his surroundings and shook his head disapprovingly. "No. The traffic must be really busy!"

“I see... Well, what do you think of this school?” Mist asked teasingly, punching her brother's side playfully. “I think it’s great!”

“I like it here.” Ike answered with a fake smile, hiding the sore fact that Smashville and Ninterty High was not more than a happy getaway but a senseless feeling to the past with his old friends and aqquintances.

The wind grew estastically warm, blushing trees into a shower of leaves while birds flocked over them like a shadow of fighter jets. Roy began to feel spirited, his cardinal red hair tossed around like a freshly ragged wagging mop. His joyful instincts told the back of his head that he appeared in a brand new world full of life and redundance. Still, Ike and Mist had to unlock thier new friend's secretive profile like a pair of detectives.

“More than Crimea?” Mist giggled as she held a butterfly close to her face, cheeks reddining in comfort and affection.

“No! Well, maybe— Just because I like this school doesn’t me I like it more than Crimea High!” Ike's heart gripped solitude, the kind that would never vanish away. Maintaining a casual expression, the indigo haired boy refrained himself from rushing out gorge of tears.

“If you say so... Everyone is really happy here, aren’t they?” Mist questioned enthusiastically, feeling as if she could never give up on her jovial mood.

“Yeah... Happy...” Ike responded, bitterly remoresed about the inevitable day when his parents announced that they were moving away to Smashville. He was flattered with the punch of dread graving away.

“Maybe the reason why everyone’s so happy is that they never faced hardships in their lives.” Ike morosed to himself. “I used to be as happy as these guys before I moved out of Crimea.”

Yet, Ike was ignorant of the fact that if you were closer to the light, your shadow was much darker.

 

Author’s Notes: Darn it, Ike! Get over it! (I think that’s what most of you are thinking now!)

Well, here’s chapter 7! Most of the future chapters may reveal Ike and his friends’ pasts. I’m kinda worried because I feel that it’s going to be the boring part of the story. Hopefully, it wouldn’t, since I have the entire fanfic planned out. Also, winter break is going to start in a few weeks, so I might start to update more often. =)

As for the poll, the sequel to Hollow has the most votes (Including a guest’s vote). So, I’m truly going to start on the sequel after this story is finished! The child brawler story might be scrapped, held off, or started along with the sequel.

Oh yeah, I’m thinking of starting a web comic based on my fanfics! Once when I’m finished with the script and sketches, I’ll start uploading the comics onto my dA account! I’ll announce it in a chapter! The first comic is going to be based on the fanfic “Lone Flame” with some changes.

Both Mr. Pherae and Ostia use the D600 model of the SMART board.

Wondering what kind of tranquil music Eliwood favoured of?

Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QGQzGQMd5E

Obnoxious Story Questions:

What do you think Marth’s essay is going to be about?

Do you think he’s going to get into trouble?

So far, which character resembles you the most?

(You don’t need to answer this): I’m thinking of working on a SSB fanfic that is an adaption of a Disney movie. What movie (s) should I do? (Don’t worry, the sequel to Hollow is my top priority.)

9: Perfection

Before Ike knew it, Friday arrived in a blink of an eye. It was nearly unbelievable to him; he never knew time went by that quickly. As he sat in his Japanese 3 class, he repeatedly tapped his #2 pencil against the furnaced wooden chabudai as he gazed at the clock in severe boredom. Exactly ten minutes prior to his stiff necked patience, school would be over.

Roy, who neatly finished his classwork nearly thirty minutes ago, was dead asleep on his desk. Like a small guinea pig curled up in it's cage, the redhead snored quietly to himself and sighed softly in his sleep. Ike tenitavely smiled slightly and watched his adopted brother vivdly doze. Although Ike assumed that he had never learned Japanese before, Roy was doing unbelievably well. He managed to catch every single detail class without having to ask questions. (Then again, Roy never talked.)

“Gee, this is boring.” Lilina whispered to Wolt, glancing around the ticking classroom flourished in dread silence.

“Yeah.” Wolt helplessly replied, cautiously leaning backwards without emitting a squeak. “I just finished my work and I don’t know what do do now!”

Lilina, who was seated in front of Owain, turned around and saw him playing on his Nintendo 3DS. “Owain!” she hissed in warning. “You know, if Mr. Lowell catches you

playing on your 3DS, he’s going to take it away!”

“I don’t think he cares!” Owain huffed, not even bothering to glance up at her. “Besides, school’s nearly over!”

“But—” Lilina started in protest, only for her to dreadfully stand attention at the front of the classroom.

“Hey!” Mr, Lowell suddenly yelled at the corner of the classroom, inflicting vocal fear into his student's trembling hearts. “Finish your work!”

Lilina and Owain jumped at the strict order. His fingers tingling like hedgehogs at his back, Owain carefully and unobtrusively slipped his 3DS into his backpack, gazing at the whiteboard, and whistled uneasily.

Mr. Lowell was infamous in Ninterty for his harsh sternness. Admittedly, Ike had to reward Marth for his glooming credit. He had to deal with him every day! No wonder why he was so darn cheerful outside of Japanese 3!

Mr. Lowell gnashed out a revolting grunt while browsing through the class gradebook on his computer. Something extremely disturbing caught his eyes.

His narrow, cold eyes widened slightly in suspicion. What was this...?!

“Marusu-kun, come here.” The demanding order brought his son to freeze in absolute zero. The low, wolf-like tone of his voice sent a chill down his students’ spine.

Marth, who was sitting in his desk and finishing his work, quickly rose out of his seat. Imitating a small toddler who got caught red handed, the azure haired boy nervously trudged to his father’s desk. “H-Hai?”

Ike watched the father and son’s conversation with a scrutizing look. He tried his hardest to listen to the conversation, yet he failed to. The two bluenettes were conversing in Japanese. They were using vocabulary that he had never learned in class. Yet, from what he could tell from Marth’s expression, it was not a friendly conversation. Mr. Lowell angrily growled Japanese to his son in a low voice, causing tears of guilt to fill Marth’s eyes.

Once when his father finished his conversation, Marth quickly blinked his tears away and slowly stifled back to his seat. Ike was dreadfully worried about him. Marth looked shameful about something...

“Marth, are you ok?” Ike asked, beaming up potential concern on the bluehead.

Marth made contact with Ike, feeling a rush of regret through his stomach. He then cracked up a tiny smile as if shy. “I’m ok.”

His smile did not relieve Ike, though. His cerulean eyes did not beam with his fake grin.

“Are you sure?” Ike asked again, waving a timid hand infront of his lonely face.

“Don’t worry! I am sure!” Marth quietly answered, the feeling of regret and guilt still flaming through. His voice faltered at the end of his sentence.

Ike bothered not to instigate further questions like a detective and meekly shrugged his shoulders .“If you say so...”

Once when the bell rang, all of Marth’s classmates quickly got out of their seats and hurried out of the classroom of dread horror.

After waving goodbye to Ike, Roy, Owain, Lilina, and Wolt, Marth slowly packed his stuff into his backpack and sat in his seat, miserably staring at the floor.

So... The weekend was finally here... That meant that he needed to endure forty-eight hours with his strict father...

--------------------

As time struck 3, Mr. Lowell finished packing his stuff in his bag, hoisting it over one shoulder. “Saa, Marusu-kun. Ikimashou.”

“H... Hai...” Marth whimpered softly, slinging on his own backpack before approaching his the strict figurehead of the Lowell family.

Marth followed his father to the parking lot, the head and tail lights to a silver 2003 Mercedez Benz EL200 station wagon blinking twice. After when the two put their stuff in the trunk, they clamboured into their car and drove off.

“Marusu-kun, I’m disappointed in you.” Mr. Lowell quietly informed as they drove down the street. The wolf like tone chilled Marth into a small ball as if he was hand cuffed to his tormenting father for a whole eternity.

“Oto-sama, I tried my hardest in AP English 3!” Marth timidly protested, gaining guts to fight back in calm retaliation. “Really! That class is really hard! Everyone didn’t do good on their essay!”

They halted at a red traffic light, not extreme with a violent jerk but a calm signal for a devistating sign of trouble. With furiosity rising in him, Mr. Lowell suddenly grabbed his son by the collar of his jacket and gave him a violent slap on the face. The abrupt action caused Marth to scream out in pain. Tears began to roll down his sore face as the bluenette began to cry hysterically.

“I don’t care if your class also didn’t do well on their essay!” Mr. Lowell harshly yelled at his wailing son. “What really matters is if you did well! Writing about why your teacher Mr. Gaebora is boring will not give you far in life!”

“B-B-But Oto-sama!” Marth started weakly through his tears. He never finished his sentence, as his anguish got the best of him and caused him to bury his wet face into his hand, sobbing uncontrollably.

Mr. Lowell sighed to himself in frustration and ignored his son’s agony.

 

-------------------

 

That night, Ike was having dinner with Mist, Elena, and Roy. Gawain was busy with work and could not make it back in time. Ike did not care; his father always started stupid, boring topics during dinner, such as doing well in school, what happened in school, and what happened during work.

As Ike finished his mashed potatoes with an excusable burp, he browsed through Smashbook on his phone, commenting on his friends’ posts.

Elena found this to be a nuisance, however. Whenever electronics came into play at the dinner table, she could not tolerate the insolent behaviour.

“Ike, how many times do I have to tell you, put your phone away!” she ordered in light annoyance, after sprinkling Knorr tomato flakes on her section of potatoes.

Mist stretched over to grab the bowl of salad along with a bottle of Krauter dressing.

“Fine...” Ike grumbled. He set his phone on the table next to his plate, resonating a heavy sigh in return.

“So, how was school today?” Elena asked enthusiastically, satisfied that Ike stopped browsing on his phone.

“Pretty good!” Mist answered cheerfully, wiping her cheeks with a tissue. “I’m having fun with my friends Owain, Lilina, and Wolt! I don't know why but we even hitched up our new group name. The Drama Brigade!”

Roy simply smiled and nodded. Elena assumed that Roy had a great day.

"How faboulus! I'm facinated by your knickering friendship!" Elena exclaimed softly, expecting her son to have the sme amount of hapiness as her daughter. "How bout you Ike?"

“It’s ok.” Ike morosed out in boredom. “I got my essay back from Mr. Gaebora. He gave me a C. What a hard grader! I thought I would get at least a B!”

“Well, AP classes are harder than normal classes, sweetie.” Elena commented with a soft smile, her expression lightening up a bit. “Don’t worry Ike, it was your first essay.”

“I guess so.” Ike replied staughtly, shrugging his shoulders.

“Let’s talk about your teachers.” Elena suggested, hosting in for the talk. “What do you think of them?”

“My favorite teacher is Mrs. Pherae.” Mist beamed up her ballet smile as if she found her teacher to be her celeberty idol. “She’s one of the drama teachers in school.”

“Mrs. Pherae?” Ike quizzically raised his brow, doubting for a second or two there. “I have a teacher named Mr. Pherae. Maybe both of them are married?”

“Yeah!” Mist replied in joy, toying with her teal green scarf. “On the first day of school, she mentioned that her husband works here! Speaking of him, how is Mr. Pherae?”

“He’s really nice and understanding.” Ike reasoned, sounding potent about the older redheaded man.

“However, he is a bit clumsy and doesn’t really know his limits. Yesterday, he was carrying some paint cans and

wasn’t watching where he was going. He accidentally stumbled over a chair and crashed over the floor with the can rolling away from his proximity. It was chaotic!”

“Awww...” Mist huffed out in sheer sympathy.

“Well, he is a good teacher. I don't blame him for that.” Ike vendored out his details as if piping up an important speech. “He’s really friendly, compared to Mr. Lowell, my Japanese 3 teacher.”

“I heard about him!” Mist piped up in hard boiled attention. “Is he really strict?”

“Yeah!” Ike answered insistently, realling the day where the poor bluehead had to face vocal raves. “He expects all of us to do well. I kinda feel sorry for Marth...”

“From what I heard from Owain, Marth is Mr. Lowell’s son. Is that true?” Mist suddenly questioned, Elena simply nodded from the corner of her eye.

“Yeah.” Ike answered in untenable disbelief, a soft fist bang to the table concluded his chronology of school. “I have to give him credit for enduring him every day!”

All of a sudden, Ike’s phone vibrated drastically on the wooden table. Deeply wondering who had just sent him a text, Ike picked up his phone and skimmed through the message. It read: Ike, can I tell you something? It’s an emergency!

“Who sent you a message?” Mist curiously raised her head into view to capture the Smashbook conversation.

“It’s from Lucina.” Ike casually answered, hitting up a quick reply.

“What’s wrong Lucina?”

“Marth has run away from home.”

Ike gasped softly. “What?! Are you serious?”

“I’m serious. My dad had just got a phone call reporting that he disappeared. He now drove off to the police station to help with the search. Before he left, he told me to let everyone know that he disappeared.”

“Should I help?”

“Yes, please! I got to go now. Owain is waiting for me to start our search.”

“Wait, where are you searching?!”

“In Ninterty. Text me when you find him, ok?

“Ok.” With that, Lucina was offline, a gray frame around her profile pic of a blue owl.

Ike’s face was as pale as paper. Oh no... Why did Marth run away?! He knew that something was wrong at the end of Japanese 3!

“What’s wrong?” Mist softly asked after the deep tranquility.

“Lucina just told me that Marth ran away.” Ike revealed the answer as if it was the end of the world.

His family gasped in sheer horror. Roy unhappily gazed down at the floor, feeling empty without a close friend at school. “They are now starting a search. I want to help them look for him.”

“I wanna help too!” Mist replied in determination, raising her arm as if it was an assigned mission. She placed her hands on her mother's legs, staring up at her with wide puppy eyes. “Mom, can we go look for him?”

“Yes.” Elena began to quickly gather all of the dishes and set them carefully in the sink. “I don’t want anything to happen to him.”

Ike immediatly stood up as if he was late to class. Satisfied with the approval, he dashed to the hallway to retrieve his ESPRIT fleece coat. “Great! Where should we look for him?”

“How about in our neighborhood?” Mist suggested out of the blue, expecting a hand yank from her brother.

“Well? What are we waiting for? Let's go!”

Ike, Mist, Roy, and Elena hurried out of their house, into their neighborhood. As they strolled around the leaf curled streets, they occasionally called out Marth’s name, hoping that they will recieve a response.

Sadly, no matter how many times they yelled his name and how loud they exaggerated, the bluenette would not reply. Ike was a bit scared. Something might happen to him, knowing how harsh

reality could be.

“Hey Ike, text Lucina and ask her if anyone found Marth yet.” Mist exasperated a sigh. She and Elena checked in with the municipality buiding but found none.

Ike nodded, unsheathed his phone, and quickly texted to Lucina.

“Did anyone find Marth yet? We didn’t find him.”

Lucina immediately replied. “No. :(”

“No one found him.” Ike sighed unhappily. Mist felt tears filling her eyes. Elena was starting to get worried.

A strange feeling struck Roy’s senses like a bolt of lightning. With a soft cry, he tugged Ike’s arm and pointed down the street heading towards Wolf Point park.

“Roy, what is it?” Ike asked in hesitant aspires, wildly training on the redhead as if he just found gleaming treasure. “Did you see Marth?”

Roy shook his his head no and suddenly dashed down the street.

“Where are you going?!” Ike exclaimed, chasing after Roy. “Come back!”

Mist and Elena hurried after the two males.

With his hair whipping as he ran, Roy paid no heed to Ike’s calls. He dashed directly to the park, energetically swinging past the gates where Ike and Mist met him. He did not know why; he just had a feeling that Marth was there!

Just as when Roy reached the playground out of breath, he saw the lonely Marth sitting on a bench, hugging himself as he wept quietly to himself. Roy’s footsteps slowed down as he approached his friend. He did not want to alarm him.

Marth’s ears caught the sounds of footsteps cautiously stepping towards him. He looked around and saw Roy walking closer to him. “Roy...” he sniffed.

Roy approached him and embraced a warm hug. Marth returned the gesture and continued to weep.

“Marth!” Marth heard Ike exclaim. He looked up and saw Ike, Mist, and Elena hurry towards him. “Are you ok?”

Marth released Roy from his embrace and stood up. “N... No.” he weakly answered.

“Why did you run away?” Mist questioned out of the blue.

“My... My Dad doesn’t want me around.” Marth answered hysterically as he fought back tears.

“Why? Did it had something to do with the conversation you guys had today in Japanese 3?” Ike pushed forward, kneeling down to level his gaze of concern on the bluehead.

“Y... Yeah.” Marth began, sniffling several times to maintain his crying composure. “He was upset that I did a really bad job on my AP English 3 essay. I tried to explain to him that everyone did not do well but.. He didn’t listen... He never listens.”

“I think your father misunderstood you.” Elena spoke up as she too kneeled down next to her son, raising Marth's chin into view. “He must’ve thought that you were using your entire class as an excuse for not doing well. I think you should’ve admitted that you didn’t do well and promise that you’ll do better.”

“He always want me to do better!” Marth added, wiping his tears. Several bystanders watched the teary commotion but bothered not to intervine, minding thier own buisiness.

“Your father just wanted you to succeed.” Elena reasoned casually. “He just didn’t know how to explain his feelings to you.”

Marth slightly nodded in understanding.

“Marth, do you feel better now?” Ike asked gently, squeezing a hand to comfort his feelings.

“Yes...” Marth trembled a bit, slowly stepping off of the bench.

Ike gave Marth a huge hug, making the younger bluenette snuggle against his body before releasing him. “Should I text Lucina now?”

Elena nodded in approval. Ike quickly took out his phone and sent a message to Lucina.

“Hey Lucina, we just found Marth.”

Lucina instantly replied. “Really? That’s great! :D 

Take him to the police station. His family is waiting there.”

“Ok.”

Ike inhaled success as he glanced up at his family. “We need to take Marth to the police station. Do you know where it is, Mom?”

Finding her son to be dumbstruck over his memory's location or he was just lazy to plot out the edifence, Elena nodded her head. “I think I know where it is. Let’s go.”

Arriving at the police station, Ike watched Elena guide Marth towards his family, which consisted of Mr. Lowell, his beloved wife, and a daughter, who seemed older than Marth.

-----------

Upon seeing Marth, his entire family bombarded him with hugs and kisses, including Mr. Lowell who tightly gave his son a loving hug and repeatedly told him that he loved him, no matter what the circumstances were. Ike smiled at this, relieved that Marth and his father were in good hands.

 

Author’s Notes:

Welp, here’s the 8th chapter! I think this is the worst chapter so far, since it wanders away from the plot of the story. Also, I kinda picture Cornelius (Marth’s dad) as one of these fathers who wanted their son to be the very best. Hopefully, I did not overemphasize Marth’s relationship with his dad. I just wanted to give out Marth’s background. Don’t worry, the next chapters will go deeper into the story.

Also, finals has started today, so Winter Break will start in less than a week. I’m trying to upload the chapters as much as possible, so don’t be surprised if chapter 9 is up tomorrow.:)

Obnoxious Story Questions:

Do you Marth’s runaway is necessary?

(Might be a spoiler) Who do think is Mr. Pherae’s

(Eliwood) wife? Let’s the shipping wars rage!

What do you think happened to Roy’s biological parents?

10: The Floor

August went by quite quickly and the warm summer days merged into the neutral, somewhat-warm-and-cold days of September. On one certain Friday, other than being assigned a writing assignment that involved researching for AP Art

History and doing a reflection in his Chemistry notebook, Ike had some free time to spare over the weekend. Although he was glad that he was left with little work to do, he eventually ran into a dead end. Ike had the habit of getting bored whenever he was left with nothing. What should he do over the weekend? He did not want to waste every precious minute of it! Well, there was always browsing through the internet, but Ike’s mother would kick him out of the house to do something more “productive”.

--------------------------

In Public Space and Design, the flowers for the homecoming float were nearly finished. Outside, near the wide lawn in front of the art classrooms, the class was spraying multiple colors of spray paint onto their flowers.

The air smelled a bit funny, making some of the students hack and cough.

Ike’s flower was a bit strange and hard to describe. It had bluish-purple petals sprayed with silvery spray paint, making it sparkle in the light. Its pollinator was originally orange, however Ike overdid the decorating. He accidentally sprayed pale-green, sky-blue, and a spot of gold spray paint on it in effort to make it stand out from the others’.

“Hey, yours look really good!” Link commented as he sprayed a tone of bright yellow paint onto his flower’s green petals. Its pollinator was a bright, eye-catching red.

“Thanks!” Ike replied, beaming bashfully at his friend's flower. “I like yours too!”

Link nodded and smiled in thanks. He glanced at Roy, who was vivdly eyeing the details on his flower. Much to Ike’s bother, it nearly looked exactly like his, only that the pollinator was sprayed with white paint and the petals were purpler. Why couldn’t he use his creativity? Did he really need to copy Ike’s flower?

“Hey Roy, did you copy Ike’s flower?” Link teasingly asked, sowing no shame over Roy's easily hurt feelings.

In realization, Roy’s face turned into a bright shade of red as he quickly shook his head no. He didn’t’! It just happened to look like Ike’s! Link chuckled at Roy’s response and resumed his duty.

Now that the entire class was outside, Ike had a better chance to identify his classmates. He recognized Zelda, who was shaking a can of gold spray paint as if it was stuck. Trying not to let the cactus’s thorn pinch his rear, Ike quickly looked away at another direction. He spotted Fox and Falco loudly talking to

each other as they decorated their flower, not fully paying attention. As Falco pressed on the nozzle of a flaming orange, a blast of stinging lava suddenly flew into his eyes, causing him to scream in pain. A few of the surrounding students gasped.

“Oh crud!” Marth exclaimed in horror, quickly getting up and hurrying into the classroom. “Mr. Pherae!”

The older redhead was busily organizing few art tools for his Special Needs art class at the very last period. "Wha-? Marth?"

Ike and his classmates watched Eliwood and Fox hurriedly lead the cursing Falco to the nearest bathroom.

Falco’s hurtful eyes grew teary as they tried to expel the chemical out of his precious flesh.

“Wow, epic fail!” Link softly chuckled to himself. Ike nodded in agreement, showing no regret to the incident.

“Does anyone have gold paint?” Ike heard Zelda curiously questioned out loud. Her concern was followed by a “Um, no.”, a “Nope.”, and a “Well, I’ll check!”.

Link spotted a can of gold spray paint lonely sitting next to him.

Taking this as a huge chance to talk to Zelda, he gripped it tightly and brought it to her with a smile. “I got some!”

Zelda took the spray paint and gently pressed its nozzle.

Strangely, only a strong gust of freezing air emitted from it.

After pressing the nozzle harder, Zelda shook it and heard an empty clinging noise, indicating that the can was empty. Link noticed the annoyed gleam in her eyes and hurried away in embarrassment.

“Did you try to impress Zelda again?” Ike asked, cautiously concerned about his friend's romantic friendship.

“Um... Yeah.” Link answered in shame, idly lowering his head at the ground in upmost sorrow. “I failed again...”

---------------------

Two scientists walked down the white hallways of the research facility. One of them was a dark-toned man in his thirties with short ginger hair and hazel eyes. The other was a gray-furred wolf.

“It’s been three weeks, and we still hadn’t found Experiment #9!” Wolf sneered in retaliation to his partner Ganondorf in annoyance. “Zephiel is getting really impatient! Are the spies doing their jobs?!”

“From what I heard, only a few spies were sent to Smashville. They need time to blend in their surroundings, so none of the citizens would get suspicious.” Ganondorf answered. “Still, Zephiel wants the boy back in the facility as soon as possible.”

“It still isn’t confirmed that the boy is in Smashville. He might be somewhere else! We need someone who can travel to different cities quickly.”

“Like, by flight?”

“Yes!”

“I think we have a solution to this problem. Follow me.”

Ganondorf led Wolf to a small room. There, a large glass window separated them from a lonely fourteen-year-old brunette with angelic wings. He toyed with the soft fabric of his white shirt as he blankly gazed at the floor with purplish eyes.

Wolf froze for a second. “Wait, we are going to send him to search for Experiment #9!?” he asked in shock. “What if he uses this as a chance to escape?”

“Pit is firmly disciplined.” Ganondorf explained. “He is strictly trained to think that following our orders is his only duty in life.”

“Did Zephiel allow this?” Wolf carefully asked again.

“He does not know of this idea.” Ganondorf answered. He began to exit the room. “Let’s ask him about it.”

Wolf followed his partner out of the room. Pit did not notice the two entering and exiting the room. He continued to speculate at the floor, like if it was one humongous TV.

---------------------

After decorating their flowers, Ike and his classmates began to clean up the classroom. Flowers of different colors and shapes were sitting on the tables. A few students were sweeping the floor with brooms while others opened the blue trash can to assist the sweeping. Owain and Lucina were carefully cleaning paint brushes under a pattering sink. Link, Ike, Marth, and Roy were standing around their table, discussing what they were going to do over the weekend.

Red approached the four, a listless smile plastered to his face. “Hey guys, can I ask you a question?”

“What is it?” Marth asked in concern, his fingers idly rolling in Washi Glitter tape.

“I’m thinking of inviting you guys to my Geomon farm, since I have nothing better to do.” Red explained, using the rubber end of his hand over hand scissors as a slingshot. The results ended up with Zelda returning a playful glare. “Are you guys interested?”

“I’m coming!” Link answered with a glitter in his eyes.

“I would like to go.” Marth sighed, randomly doodling a rainbow of lines on his paper with a Rainbow Crayon. “But I need to ask Dad first.”

“Same here.” Ike exclaimed in casual flusters.

Red nodded in understanding while pocketing out his phone. “Message me on Smashbook if you can or can’t come.”

When Ike, Mist, and Roy finally arrived home after school, the first thing Ike did was ask Elena if he could go to Red’s farm on Saturday. In doubt, Elena suggested that he should finish his homework as soon as possible. Although he disliked getting started on his work right away, Ike obeyed his mother’s concern and immediately got started on his work.

The reflections for Chemistry was incredibly easy for Ike; he just needed to draw something that included the most important parts of his notes. It was as as easy as adding.

However, when he started his writing assignment for AP Art History, Ike crashed into a brick wall. The class was requred to type up a history assignment regarding Elibe's undiscovered treasures.The gears in his brain REFUSED to turn! He gathered as much information about the art pieces (Legendary weapons) in effort to oil the stiff gears. Yet, the gears only turned a bit before coming to a complete halt. Tapping his computer mouse loudly, Ike huffed loudly in frustration.

How could he finish this assignment by tonight?!

Roy perched next to Ike, pouring over texts like a pro. He was also working on the very same writing assignment. However, instead of helplessly browsing through the Internet, he was calmly writing down a paragraph, answering the questions thoroughly. Ike raised an eyebrow in confusion. How was Roy able to answer the questions quickly?

After two hours of struggling with the questions, Ike finally managed to barely answer all of the questions. He shoved his assignment in his binder, flopped onto his bed, and sighed loudly. Roy plopped next to him and laced at him with his wide navy blue eyes.

“Roy, how did you managed to finish that assignment so easily?” Ike asked incredously, screwing up his nose in defeat.

Roy only shrugged his shoulders. Taking the gesture as an “I don’t know.”, over "Easy, just start writing.", Ike glamoured on his iPhone, logged onto Smashbook, and sent a quick message to Red.

“Red, I can go to your Geomon farm.” he typed.

Red replied, “Thats great!”

“Can the others come?”

“Well, Marth cant come because of his dad. Link is coming though.”

“Alright. Well, talk to you later. I need to go now.”

“Cya.”

After finishing his conversation with Red, Ike began to absentmindedly browse through his Crimean friends’ posts and photos. One of them included a picture of Oscar hanging out in the park with Boyd and Rolf. The three green-haired brothers looked extremely happy. Another was Rhys being in a relationship with Mia. Soren’s latest status mentioned that he was invited to a famous college, which made Ike smile in tearing pride. Good for him.

A feeling of loneliness began to ache in Ike’s heart. The last time he saw his friends was on the last day of school.

They did not have a chance to personally say their final goodbyes to him, as once when Ike got home, his parents announced to him and Mist that they were moving in a few days. In angst, Ike immediately told his friends via messaging. With a small, sad sigh, Ike began to browse through pictures of him spending time with his friends back at Crimea. Nostalgia began to flutter in his stomach.

Roy saw the pictures and gently nudged Ike on the shoulder. When Ike looked at him in puzzling concern, Roy simply acknowledged the pictures.

“Oh, they are my friends from Crimea.” Ike began, smiling sadly. “I miss them. Over summer break, my family had to move to Smashville because it was much closer to my Dad’s new job.”

Roy looked down unhappily, feeling rather guilty for what he had done to Ike's life. On the oher hand, Ike scowled at the sudden thought of his father Gawain.

“I don’t see why Dad couldn’t drive an extra five miles to his new job.” Ike carefully thought, shaking his head in dismay.

 

Author’s Notes: “Marth can’t come because of his dad”. Darn it, Mr. Lowell.:/

Here’s the boring chapter 9! In this chapter, I decided to reveal the reason why Ike and his family moved to Smashville and introduce Pit’s role in the story.

Hopefully, I’m not making Ike so obnoxiously whiny that it chases my readers you wonder what are the “flowers” Ike and his friends are creating, it’s based on a project I did in my art class. It’s kinda hard to describe.

Also, I don’t think I mentioned this but, I’m already finished with about 4 future chapters, so I’m going to stop writing the chapters and take some suggestions.

 

Story Questions:

(You don’t need to answer this) Any suggestions on who should appear and what should happen in the story?

 

Why do you think Roy is incredibly intelligent?

 

If you were Ike, would you greatly dislike Gawain for moving to Smashville?

Out of all of Ike’s teachers, which one is the best in your opinion? The worst?

11: Trigger

The next day, Red and Link were standing on the porch of Red’s house. The house was tiny, compared to the looming, flaming red barn in the backyard. It was a one-story house with two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. The house was a sickly pale brick, as the sun faded away its true, gold color. In the distance, amount the dry, straw-colored countryside, was a tiny town known as Pine Bay. It was one of Smashville’s neighboring cities.

“Look! There’s Ike and Roy!” Link pointed to a silver Toyota CH-R neatly parking in front of the driveway. Two of its doors swung open and out bounded Ike and Roy.

“Ike, give me a call when you’re ready!” Elena reminded him with a stern voice.

“Yes, Mom!” Ike replied in annoyance before slamming the door shut.

As Elena drove off, Ike and Roy hurried towards Link and Red.

“Hey guys!” Ike spoke with a smile. Roy smiled softly and nodded.

Red punched Ike and Roy a high-five. “I’m so glad that you guys can come!”

“So, what are we going to do now?” Link gazed the sky, the air fridgid with warm breeze.

“We’re going to see my Geomon!”

Ike, Link, and Roy followed Red into his house. As soon as they stepped past the porch, they were greeted by a woman in her late

thirties with long jet black hair dressed in a humble red dress.

She shared Red’s warm brown eyes and lithe features.

“Red, are they your friends?” she asked in exuberance, begging to shake hands with them.

“Yes, Mom.” Red bamed proudly and began to introduce his friends. “This is Link, Ike, and Roy. These two recently moved to Smashville. And now I'm gonna tour them around with our Geomon!”

“It’s very nice to meet you.” Red’s mom smiled at her son’s friends. “Do you three want something to eat?”

“No thanks.” Ike simply replied, feeling his stomach not hunger after food at this specific time.

Roy very well mimicked Ike's gesture.

“Well, no thanks.” Link helpfully added. “I’ve already eaten. Thanks anyway.”

“Enjoy your day here.” Red’s mom softly said as she watched Red and his friends enter the crisp backyard.

Ike’s footsteps softly crushed the dry grass as he followed his friends to the towering, red barn. Its bright, flamboyant color indicated that it was recently coated with paint. The air was humid and warm, making Ike perspire. Sweat began to soak in his indigo hair. Heat began to embrace his body, refusing to let go.

When they approached the barn’s entrance, an abrupt growl coming from the inside the barn caused Roy to yelp in surprise, dash behind Ike, and clutch Ike’s waist tightly for protection. Link jumped as his ears twitched. What was that?! Ike’s face went pale for a second. Did it come from the barn?! Unlike his friends, Red kept his cool.

“Don’t worry, it’s just Thrakos.” he calmly reassured as he unlocked and opened the door. “He’s actually excited that we have visitors!”

Ike gently stroked the shaking Roy’s cardinal hair as he tried to comfort him. “Don’t worry, Roy. Everything’s alright. I was scared too.”

As soon as the barn’s doors flew open, a red 4 legged dragon with a skull type mask leapt out of nowhere and lunged onto Red, knocking him down.

Despite being abruptly tackled by a monstrous fire Geomon,

Red began to laugh as Thrakos happily nuzzled his head with a gentle snarl. Ike and the others could only watch with an awkward facial expression. Whoa, Thrakos was HUGE compared to Red! Red could mount him and take off to the skies! Why was he so friendly?

“I know, Thrakos.” Red happily whispered to Thrakos as the fire Geomon got off, allowing his owner to get up.

“You’re happy that we have visitors! Now, be gentle!”

Thrakos turned and looked at his owner’s friends, identifying their physical appearance. Red’s cardinal hair caught his fierce light blue eyes. As Thrakos sharply gazed into Roy’s navy blue eyes, Roy froze in fright. He was a deer caught in a pair of headlights. Oh no... What was he going to do? Did he want to eat him or something?

Red caught Roy’s alarmed expression. “Don’t be scared! I think Thrakos likes your hair, Roy!”

Ike and Link smirked at Red’s remark. However, they instantly stopped when Thrakos slowly went towards Roy, careful not to scare him. Once when he was a step away from the redhead, Thrakos gently nuzzled his cardinal hair. His cheeks flushing pink, Roy giggled loudly. Ike, Link, and Red glanced at each other for one good second. That was the first time they heard Roy laugh in childish joy.

“Thrakos is really friendly.” Ike commented out in pondering awe.

“Yeah, he is!” Link agreed halfheartedly. “Why is he so nice?”

“He’s been raised by humans ever since he was rescued as a baby.” Red answered, leading the trio to door latched off with a heavy lock.

“Let’s see your other Geomon!” Link exclaimed, excitement dazzled in his heart like an array of sparks.

Along with Red, Ike, and Link, Roy stopped playing with Thrakos and quickly trailed his friends. Thrakos did not seem too upset at the act. He simply followed his owner and his friends.

As soon when Ike entered the barn, the boiling air that refused to let go suddenly fled away from him. It dreaded the cool air lingering in the barn. A beam of white sunlight shimmered from the open window.

A Sakunam was playing in the haystack with a Saku.

Sitting in a baby pool filled with cold water was a Lutrine, brown otter with water tribal markings.

He was spraying water onto a nearby Ascalon, who seemed to enjoy it. A meditating Kitsune was peacefully sitting at a corner of the barn. An Adrana was sneaking on oran berries.

Sakunam noticed Red enter the barn with his friends.

Exclaiming a “Saaaakkkuuu!”, he excitedly scurried towards him and leapt into his arms.

“Hi there, Sakunam!” Red exclaimed to the blazing red panda Geomon, cuddling him. “We have some visitors!”

With a shy blush, Baby Saku timidly approached Red’s friends.

Roy kneeled down and held out both of his hands. This made Saku overcome her shyness and quickly jump into the redhead’s hands.

Link noticed Lutrine playing with Ascalon. Wanting to join the two Geomon, he approached them. Lutrine took notice of the Hylian and mischievously squirted water at his face. As Link wiped his face with the sleeve of his green jacket, Ascalon giggled along with Lutrine.

“Your Geomon are neat!” Ike exclaimed to Red as he petted Thrakos on the head, the feeling was too contemptius.

“Thanks!” Red replied with a smile, gently setting Sakuknam on the ground. The fire panda happily leapt into Ike’s arms and puppy stared at him with endearing, innocent eyes.

As Ike softly petted Sakunam on the head, he suddenly thought of something. “Hey Red, is your Dad here? I didn’t see him.”

“No, he isn’t.” Red answered, shifting around some barn tools. He shrugged his shoulders with a sad sigh. “He’s working in Goldenrod City. I’m kinda worried about him.”

“I know.” Ike replied, watching Link sprinkle water onto Lutrine, who nuzzled his hand. “He’s working to support the farm, isn’t he?”

“Yep.” Red forwarded some supplies around until they resembled an organized warehouse. “Sometimes, he doesn’t even come home for dinner! We would move out of Smashville to Goldenrod City for convenience if it weren’t for the Geomon!”

“I see.” Ike spoke, nodding his head in understanding. “If you moved to Goldenrod City, then you needed to give the Geomon away.”

“Yeah.” Red replied. “I can’t picture giving my beloved friends to some stranger!”

-------------------

Meanwhile, Ganondorf and Wolf entered the room where Pit was held. The two henchmen had just presented their idea to Zephiel, who immediately allowed it. The strict leader of the facility approved the idea of having the winged boy search for Experiment #9.

Ever since he became aware of his surroundings and responded to stimulis, Pit was strictly disciplined by members of the research institute. It got to the point when Pit believed that the only reason he was alive was he was born to take orders from superiors. Due to his belief, Pit never disobeyed orders.

Ganondorf turned on an intercom. “Pit, may we have your attention?”

Pit’s wings perked up as he excitedly looked at his superiors. Yes! He finally got something to do!

“Y-Yes! I’m paying attention!” he happily answered, rushing up the window.

“We have an important mission for you.” Ganondorf explained. “Your mission is to find someone.”

“Who is it?” Pit curiously asked.

Ganondorf held a picture of a cardinal-haired male with navy blue eyes against the window. Pit hurried closer to the window to take a better look.

“Is that who I’m looking for?” Pit innocently asked.

“Yes.” Ganondorf answered.

“Why?”

“It is because he is associated with us. We can’t give you details.”

“I understand. Where do I look for him?”

“We’ll show you soon. Right now, we need to make preparations.”

Ganondorf gave a nod of approval to Wolf, who unlocked and opened the door to Pit’s cell. Instead of taking this rare

moment as a chance to flee, Pit simply stepped out and went to Wolf’s side, waiting for an order.

“Follow us.” Wolf coldly commanded.

Pit followed the henchmen to a small medical room. Its walls were completely white along with the flat ceiling lights. It had a few cabinets and a small bed.

As Wolf browsed through the cabinets and gripped four syringes, Ganondorf asked Pit to sit on the bed. Pit submitted, obediently not aware what was going to happen.

“Now Pit, look at the walls.” Ganondorf calmly commanded.

Pit did what he was told. As he gazed at the boring walls, he felt two pinches on each of his arms. Wolf was injecting vaccines into the youth’s body. It would be terrible if Pit needed to return to the facility if he got horribly sick!

After Wolf was finished with the shots, Pit wearily said, “I feel really sleepy...”

“You’re supposed to feel sleepy.” Ganondorf replied. Due to not being exposed to any bacteria, whether good or bad, Pit had a weak immune system.

“I can’t.” Pit responded, lying down on the bed. “I need to look for the boy...”

“Not now.” Wolf said as he pulled the covers over the drowsy teen. “For now, just sleep.”

Pit slightly nodded before his consciousness entered a pitch-black, silent world.

“When are we going to release him?” Wolf asked

Ganondorf as they left the room.

Ganondorf locked the door with a tiny key before replying. “We’ll release him in a few days, unless if he feels ill.”

-----------

After spending an hour with Red’s Geomon and thirty minutes snacking on junk food and drinking lemonade in the backyard, Link, Ike, and Roy departed for their homes.

While Elena drove, Ike gazed at the wide, endless countryside, the barren wastelands of summer and began to daydream. Roy fell asleep. So, Red’s dad was currently working hard at Goldenrod City.

Sometimes, he could not make it back in time for dinner. If it weren’t for the Geomon, then Red and his family would move to Goldenrod City, so it would be more convenient for his dad.

But, it meant that Red needed to give his Geomon away!

Moving would only benefit his dad. The thought of Red’s father pulled the trigger on the gun and made a dashing bullet of anger thoughts strike Ike’s thoughts. Suddenly feeling fury boil through his head at the thought of his own father, Ike tightly clutched his fists and angirly glared down at his Crivit sneakers.

So, the only reason he and his family moved to Smashville was only for Gawain’s benefit?! Ike remembered when he protested against moving to Smashville. As a punishment, he had his phone taken away, followed by his mother’s harshly saying, “Ike, don’t be selfish.”

“I’m not selfish.” Ike thought to himself crossly. “Dad is!”

It was as if an invisible feeling hysterically jabbed his mind into mockery like a voice from another world. 

Roy, who suddenly awakened, noticed Ike’s furious expression. With a worried look, he gave him a small nudge on the shoulder.

Ike quickly snapped out of his thoughts and fake smiled. “Er, sorry Roy! I was just thinking about something!”

With an understanding nod, Roy gently laid his head on Ike’s shoulder and drifted to sleep. Ike’s lips slightly curved into a smile before it fell into a frown that matched with his glower.

Upon returning home, Ike noticed a certain dark blue Renault Koleos parked in the driveway. He softly growled to himself; it looked like the old man managed to come early from work.

Ike quickly covered his angry glare with his mask of calmness as he gently shook Roy awake. Roy softly rubbed his eyes and yawned as Elena got out of the car.

“Well, your father came home earlier than usual.” she announced as both of her sons exited the car.

Ike forced a bashful smile. “Y-Yeah, that’s good.”

Actually feeling nonchalant of his father was like he did not want to express his grudge towards his father.

As Ike entered the house, and into the kitchen, he spotted Gawain sitting at a table, reading the newspaper. He stood there for a few moments, before taking a can of Freeway lemon-lime soda from the refrigerator. Gawain was deeply interested in the news; he did not notice his own son entering the kitchen.

However, Ike did not care whether his father noticed him or not. Ever since they moved to Smashville, he despised Gawain with every inch of his heart.

 

Author’s Notes: 

Dashing through the NO...

Here’s a quick update. Surprised? Well, I’m officially on Winter Break! Expect some quick updates!

Like the last chapter, nothing exciting really happened.

It just gave an insight to Red and Ike’s relationship with his dad. I promise that the future chapters will be more exciting than this!

 

Story Questions:

 

Out of all of Red’s Geomon, which one is your

favorite?

 

(You don’t need to answer this) Which character

would you like to see in future chapters?